Andrew Carnegie; the man and his work

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Andrew Carnegie

Copyright by Viinder-weyde

MR. CARNEGIE IX HIS LIBRARY, DICTATING TO HIS SECRETARY

Andrew Carnegie

The Man and His Work

By

Bernard Alderson

♦ «

• <»."> » >

New York

Doubleday, Page & Co,

1905

Copyrieht, igol
By DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY

Published November. igo£

• • •• • •

PREFACE

A KEYNOTE to the true description of a rich man
who does good with his money is struck by
Ruskin when he defines wealth to be "the possession
of the valuable by the valiant" ; for, as he goes on to
say, "that man is the richest who, having perfected
the fimction of his own life, has also the widest
helpful interest."

These words apply with singular fitness to Andrew
Carnegie. /The story of his life is a record of high aims
and strenuous endeavor, disclosing constant indica-
tions of a master mind; so that the rising generation,
as they follow the gradual growth of his fortunes, and
the development of his character, may gather from an
account of the winning of his wealth a strong incentive
to courageous enterprise, and also appreciate the inten-
tion of his pithy paradox, "A man who dies rich dies
disgraced"*^

Who can fail to admire that firm purpose to complete
his duties as he interprets them, which has reached a
noble climax in the fixed determination to put his mil-
lions to the most beneficial use ? He is anxious abo\'e
all things to prevent this mint of money from doing
harm, by disbursing it worthily during his lifetime, and

vii

226724

viii PREFACE

although he must accept the penalties with the pleas-
ures of his prominent position, he can well afford to
disregard petty criticism.

** Wealth," said Gladstone, *'is the business of the
world"; and when he added, "the enormous power
which it possesses has been used on the whole well,"
we cannot doubt that he had in his mind this great
millionaire for whom he frequently expressed a warm
regard, and whose "Gospel of Wealth" he reviewed
in the glowing terms which are quoted in these pages.

Mr. Carnegie, himself a thorough and thoughtful
student of men and manners, is heartily at one with an
old writer who has quaintly asserted that "to amass
money and to make no use of it is as senseless as to
hunt game and not roast it," and therefore it is one of
the main purposes of this volume to prove that he —
the self-made Steel King — stands head and shoulders
above most of his fellow-millionaires, in that he has
undertaken to distribute with his own hands, and at his
own discretion after most careful thought, the gigantic
funds which he has accumulated by such alert and
unflinching industry; holding himself to be no more
than a trustee, responsible for their application through
such channels, and to such ends, as may be expected
to enrich the minds and moral welfare of those whom
he thus makes his heirs.

CONTENTS

CHAPTBR

I. Birthplace and Boyhood

3

y, II. Stepping-stones

17

\>: III. Fortune's Flood

31

''^V. The Steel Master .

45

|V V. As an Employer of Labor

61

VI. Conflicts with Labor

77

VII. His Political Faith

93

VIII. International Competition

III

^ IX. His Gospel of Wealth .

129

X. His Benefactions

• 153

XI. The Pen of a Ready Writer

. 181

XII. Obiter Dicta .

• 1

» ~—

. 217

IX

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Mr. Carnbgib in His Library . . Frontispiece

PACING PAGB

Thb Carnbgib Home at Dunfermline . . 26

Thb Carnegie Company's

Edgar Thompson Works

Homestead Works }- • • 54

DuQUESNE Works

Carnegie Institute 80

Skibo Castle 108

Skibo Castle. View from the Wood . . . 134

The Mansion in New York. Front View . . 162

The Mansion in New York. Side and Rear View,

Showing the Garden . . . • .188

XI

Birthplace and Boyhood

Andrew Carnegie

THE MAN AND HIS WORK

CHAPTER I

BIRTHPLACE AND BOYHOOD

ANDREW CARNEGIE was bom in Dunfermline on
- November 25, 1837, the year in which Queen
Victoria ascended the throne. Dunfermline is one of
Scotland's oldest cities, and has been the scene of
many famous episodes in Scottish history. It formerly
contained one of the richest abbeys in the land, but
to-day only the nave of the church remains among
the ruins. In this abbey the renowned Malcolm and
his consort and seven other Scottish kings and five
queens are buried. Adjacent to its ruins are those
of the ancient royal palace in which the hapless
Charles I. was bom. What, however, endears Dim-
fermline above everything else to Andrew Carnegie
is not the fact that it was the burial-place or the
residence of Scottish royalty, but that Robert Bruce
was here laid to rest in his ** winding-sheet of cloth
of gold."

3

4 . — "' ' 'ANDREW CARNEGIE

Young Carnegie early began to study the history of
his native land, and it was not long before he became a
hero-worshiper of the most pronounced type. Bruce,
Wallace and Bums were exalted by his youthful
patriotism to lofty thrones of veneration ; the stricken
fields of Bannockburn and Stirling became to him a
glorious heritage. These democratic feelings of na-
tional enthusiasm were intensified by the circumstances
of the period. For many years Scotland had suffered
under a tyrannical system of government, which had
created a feeling of bitter hatred against the landed
aristocracy. Kings and nobles were looked upon as
mere puppets, and held in common detestation by the
rank and file. A succession of weak sovereigns had
occupied the English throne, and by their unwise
actions had alienated the loyalty of the Scottish people.

These facts were early impressed on young Andrew's
mind by his uncle, who took care that the boy should
have a proper conception of Scottish history. Andrew
attended the local school, but the chief part of his
education was given him by his imcle, a man of some
ability, who held extreme democratic republican views,
which he expressed with unrestrained vigor.

Mr. Carnegie says that his political instincts were
first aroused by listening to the speeches of his uncle
and father, who addressed in the evenings large
assemblies of the people. They were the leaders of an

BIRTHPLACE AND BOYHOOD 5

agitation for reform, and in the course of their speeches
they fearlessly denounced the oppression of the English
Government. These sentiments found fertile soil in
young Andrew's mind. Many years afterward he

said : —

**What we learn at seven sticks! When I was at
that age, I awoke one night to hear my uncle had been
put into jail. I knew there was hidden in the attic a
rebellious republican flag, for all our family were
Chartists, and to this day when I speak of a king or
hereditary privilege my blood tingles and moimts to
my face. Sometimes — ^and not so many years ago —
I have felt for a passing moment that to shoot all
hereditary kings, one after the other, would not be un-
congenial work, for I hate hereditary privileges with
a hate nothing else inspires, because I got it at seven,
and it requires an effort to keep it within bounds."

One of the proudest boasts he makes to-day is that
his uncle was imprisoned for upholding the rights of
the people, and vindicating the liberty of free speech.

For eleven years, during the most impressionable
period of his life, Andrew Carnegie breathed this
atmosphere so strongly charged with republican senti-
ment. The lessons of that early training were firmly
ingrained upon his mind, and forty years afterward
we find the natural result in his book, "Triumphant
Democracy." The seeds sown in his boyhood were

6 ANDREW CARNEGIE

destined to produce enduring fruit. His antipathy to
royalty and the aristocracy has been to him a consum-
ing passion. The environment of his youth, and his
residence in the United States, have been chiefly re-
sponsible for this uncompromising attitude.

But the condition and general welfare of the masses,
when Andrew Carnegie was a boy, were vastly different
from what they are to-day. He has learned much
since his youth, and now regards Great Britain as a
republic, like the United States, with this distinc-
tion, that the one is crowned, the other uncrowned.
It is only after years of wise monarchical government
that the Scottish people have become animated with
that loyal devotion to the throne which is now one of
their distinguishing characteristics.

Andrew Carnegie's political convictions were thus

J formed by his uncle, but his character and habits were

most happily moulded by his mother. She was a

typical specimen of the strong-minded, warm-hearted,

frugal Scottish housewife. Until Andrew was eight

years old she attended to his education and taught him

the rudiments. He was then handed over to the care

of the local schoolmaster. Here is an amusing incident

of his school life, which throws some light on the way

in which he was brought up.

/x Every morning the lessons were preceded by some

l/xeligious exercises, and upon one occasion each member

BIRTHPLACE AND BOYHOOD 7

of the class had to repeat a proverb from the Bible. \
When it came to Andrew's turn he stood up and boldly
proclaimed, **Take care of your pence, the pounds will
take care of themselves. ' ' This was not quite orthodox,
but it illustrated how the famous maxim had been \
drilled into the lad's mind by his mother.

Andrew Carnegie must be included in the long list
of illustrious men whose success in life has been largely
due to the greatest of all blessings a youth can have —
a wise and good mother. His devotion to her was
exceedingly strong. She was the guardian angel of his
life — his "saint," as he always called her. In every
trouble and sorrow she was his helper and comforter, \
and in every difficulty and perplexity his guide and /
counselor. Her strong loving influence supportecy
him through all the severe strain of his strenuous
struggle for success. It was her practical sympathy\
and cheerful encouragement which sustained his
youthful strength and ambition during the darkest
days. Never for one moment has he forgotten what
she did for him. He has often said he can never
adequately estimate all that he owes to her strong will,
her far-seeing judgment, and her loving, motherly
sympathy.

When he became possessed of great wealth she still
remained his constant companion, and accompanied
him on all his holidays, both at home and abroad.

8 ANDREW CARNEGIE

While she lived he remained single, choosing to lavish
upon her all the love and reverence of his nature.
Now that she has passed away, he is never tired of
singing her praises and of recalling her goodness.
This deep attachment and unbroken fidelity to his
mother is one of the strongest features of Andrew
Carnegie's character, and herein he has set a worthy
example to every youth who desires to become a true
man.

His mother, he once remarked, was the mainspring
of all his hopes. For her he worked, for her sake alone
he sought to acquire wealth, so that her old age might
be spent in comfort and in peace. To his great joy
she lived to the ripe old age of eighty.
-^ The little homestead at Dunfermline derived its
livelihood from the staple industry of the town.
Andrew's father was a master weaver, and as the owner
of four damask looms and an employer of apprentices
he was looked upon as a prosperous business man.
Those were the days of the hand looms, when the trade
in cloth was done through merchants, who issued their
orders to master weavers and supplied them with the
raw material.

The introduction of the steam loom effected a com-
plete change in these conditions. The old methods
could not successfully compete with the new steam
loom and the factory system of labor. This trade

BIRTHPLACE AND BOYHOOD 9

revolution cast a shadow over Mr. Carnegie's home
and future prospects. His business rapidly dwindled,
and eventually became unprofitable. For a time he
struggled manfully against these adverse forces, but
he had at last to give way.

One day he returned from delivering some goods to
say that he could get no further orders, and turning to
his children he said, "Andy, I have no more work.'*
It is in the irony of things that the youngster should
have felt in his boyhood the cruel effect of those
forces of competition and enterprise of which, in later
years, he was to be the stanchest champion, and which
were destined to bring him such enormous wealth.

* * No more work ! ' ' The keen-witted boy knew what
that meant, and the news, with all its significance
and tmspeakable misery, sank deep into his childish
heart. He there and then resolved that he would
strive with all his strength to drive the wolf of poverty
from his home. It was but the impetuous resolution
of a boy of ten, yet it was the spark of a strong
determination which had suddenly been kindled in
his nature, and which never ceased to exert its influ-
ence, urging him on through many youthful trials to
ultimate success.

Andrew's father was placed in a difficult position.
It was useless to move to another town, for the same
conditions prevailed everywhere. A family council

lo ANDREW CARNEGIE

was held, and it was decided, after some hesitation,
to follow the example of some relatives, who, a few
years before, had emigrated to Pittsburgh, America,
where they had met with encouraging success.

The parents, no doubt, could have managed very
well in the old country, but for the sake of their two
boys they decided to take all the risks and endure all
the hardships of emigration. The crossing of the
Atlantic in the sailing vessels of those days was a
rough experience, and the discomforts of a journey
from New York to Pittsburgh were by no means
insignificant. Such considerations, however, did not
weigh much with these hardy Scotch folk.

The hand looms and the business were sold and
preparations made for the long voyage. The wrench
from their native town, and the breaking up of their
home and friendly associations, proved very hard and
trying; and in after years Andrew Carnegie gave
proof of his attachment to his birthplace when he
said: "What Benares is to the Hindoo, Mecca to the
Mohammedan, Jerusalem to the Christian, all that
and more Dunfermline is to me."

In 1848, the year of the overthrow of kingship in
France, this young king-hater and his family set sail
for the republic across the Atlantic. The little party —
father, mother, Andrew, and his yotmger brother Tom
— embarked at Broomielaw, Glasgow, on the 800-ton

BIRTHPLACE AND BOYHOOD ii

sailing vessel Wiscassett, and thus entered upon their
seven weeks' voyage to the land of promise — poor
emigrants, in quest of fortune. Little did they think
as they saw the shores of bonnie Scotland receding in
the distance that some day one of their number would
return from the quest and "bring his sheaves with
him."

Young Andy had plenty of time to find his sea legs,
and he thoroughly enjoyed the voyage, and the liking
for the sea then awakened has always remained one
of his greatest delights. He was only eleven years old
at the time, but he has distinct recollections of that
parting from the old country and the launch out into
a new life in the Western world.

. The family reached Pittsburgh safely, and imme-
diately settled down. Mr. Carnegie obtained work at
a cotton factory in the town, and when twelve years old
Andrew began his business career as a bobbin boy at a
dollar and twenty cents a week. The fact that he could
now contribute toward the family expenses filled him
with intense satisfaction.

"I was no longer," he writes, "dependent upon my
parents, but at last admitted to the family partnership
as a contributing member, and able to help them. I
think this makes a man out of a boy sooner than any-
thing else — and a real man, too, if there be any germ
of true manliness in him. It is everything to feel that

12 ANDREW CARNEGIE

you are useful. I have had to deal with great sums,
many millions of dollars have since passed through my
hands, but putting all these together, and considering
money-making as a means of pleasure-giving, or of
that other feeling much deeper than pleasure — of
genuine satisfaction, I tell you that one dollar and
twenty cents outweighs all. It was the direct reward
of honest manual labor; it represented a week of very
hard work — so hard that, but for the aim and end
which sanctified it, slavery might not be too strong
a term to describe it."

His hours for one so young were exceedingly long,
and it is no wonder he has retained such a vivid recol-
lection of the hardships of child labor. From early
morn till dewy eve — ^from dark to dark — with but an
interval of forty minutes for his dinner, he slaved away
at his uncongenial task. His next situation proved
even more laborious and responsible, and nothing but
strong determination and persistent ambition could
have stood the test. His work was to fire the boiler
and nm the steam-engine which drove the machinery
of a small factory. For a boy of thirteen this was,
indeed, an onerous position, and the heavy strain of
the work soon began to affect his health and to tell
upon his nerves. Even in his sleep he was haunted
by the dread possibility of calamity, and during the
night would vaguely reach forth his hand to test the

BIRTHPLACE AND BOYHOOD 13

water-gauge. One false move he knew might cause
the whole place to be blown to atoms.

Those were dark days for the young aspirant, but
he had not a thought of burdening his home with his
troubles. Cheerfulness almost amounted to a religion >
in that little household, and each member strove to
put aside all disturbing thoughts. He was blessed
with a spirit of keen, dogged determination. The
flame of his ambition — most precious of gifts — ^burned
brightly within him, and although his surroundings
must have filled him with despair, he never showed the
white flag, but always had confidence in his future.
"I was young and had my dreams; and something
within me always told me that this would not last, and
that I should soon get into a better position." With
Nil desperandum for his motto, he became a confirmed
and plucky little optimist.

The other members of his family, including his
mother, were toiling hard, but when they gathered to-
gether in the evenings all showed their brightest spirits,
and kept their personal worries and sorrows to them-
selves. His home was a very happy one, full of sweet-
ness and love, and to this day he cherishes its memories.

** I always pity the sons and daughters of rich men,"
he said many years afterward, "who are attended by
servants, and have governesses at a later age, but they
do not know what they have missed. They have

i

14 ANDREW CARNEGIE

fathers and mothers — and very kind fathers and
mothers too — and they think that they enjoy the
sweetness of these blessings to the full, but this they
cannot do; for the poor boy who has in his father his
constant companion, tutor and model, and in his
mother — ^holy name — his nurse, teacher, guardian
angel, saint, all in one, has a richer, more precious for-
tune in life than any rich man's son can possibly know,
and compared with which all other fortunes count for
little. It is because I know how sweet and happy and
pure the home of honest poverty is, how free from care,
from quarrels, how loving and united its members,
that I sympathize with the rich man's boy and con-
gratulate the poor man's boy ; and it is for these reasons
that from the ranks of the poor the great and good
have always sprung, and always must spring. It
seems nowadays a matter of universal desire that
poverty should be abolished. We should be quite
willing to abolish luxury, but to abolish poverty would
be to destroy the only soil upon which mankind can
depend to produce those virtues which can alone
enable our race to reach a still higher civilization than
it now possesses."

Stepping-Stones

CHAPTER II

STEPPING-STONES

ANDREW CARNEGIE is not an example to quote
in illustration of the proverb, "A rolling stone
gathers no moss." He has referred with scorn to the
precept, " Stick to your last," which he seems to think
equivalent to "Stick in the mud," and therefore not
the motto he would recommend to a youth who
desires to make progress.

At fourteen ne made his third change, and forsook
the dismal task of stoking for the healthier and
brighter work of a telegraph boy. This was his first
step forward, which he was able to take through the
kindness of Mr. J. Douglas Reed, a Dunfermline gentle-
man who had gone out to the States early in life and
made a name for himself in the telegraph service.
When he heard that Mr. Carnegie's family had also
come from far-off Dimfermline, he promised the father
that he would give "Andy" a berth, and during the
whole time he was in the telegraph service he did all
he could to help him forward.

The changed conditions and healthy environment of
his new work filled "Andy" with the greatest happi-
ness. He was like a caged bird set free. Penned up

17

i8 ANDREW CARNEGIE

as he had been in the reeking atmosphere of an engine-
room, a life in the open air seemed an ideal existence.
It was, he said, *'a transference from the darkness to
light, from the desert to paradise."

When he found himself amidst books and newspapers,
and was privileged to use pen and ink in the course of
his daily round, the common task immediately began
to glow with promise, and he considered himself in his
new sphere the happiest boy alive. This youthful
joy was the first evidence of the strong attachment Mr.
Carnegie has always shown for figures and writing. A
telegraph office is not the place where one would expect
to find the germs of literary inspiration, but it was
while carrying out the duties of telegraph messenger
that young Carnegie first entertained the hope of some
day writing articles and books himself.

Having secured this congenial position, with a salary
of three dollars a week, he was greatly troubled lest
he should lose it. He entered upon his new work with
two drawbacks: his health had been impaired by the
strain of his former occupation, and he was unac-
quainted with the commercial quarters of the city — a
defect which he feared would hinder him in making his
deliveries. So he set himself to remedy it without
delay, and eventually overcame the difficulty by calling
into use his excellent memory. With characteristic
determination he resolved to learn by heart the names

STEPPING-STONES 19

of all the business houses in the principal streets. Soon
he was able to shut his eyes and repeat in correct order
the names of the firms on one side of the street and of
those on the other. " Then," he says, " I felt safe."

When he had successfully overcome this difficulty
another presented itself. One of the duties of a tele-
graph boy in those primitive days was to climb the
poles whenever a stoppage occurred and bring the
wire down to be repaired. Try how he would, and he
tells us he tried very hard, he could not accomplish
this feat. He was not an expert in athletics, and could
always place more reliance on his brains than on his
muscles.

As it happened, his climbing abilities were never
put to the test, and he escaped the awful ordeal he
had so much dreaded.

A*he way in which the young telegraph messenger
gained his next promotion is in keeping with his whole
career. Before the operators arrived in the morning,
it was the custom of the telegraph boys to practise on
the instruments by commimicating with other boys
along the lines. Young Carnegie took full advantage
of this opportunity, jt "He was by nature well equipped
for the work, having a marvelous ear for sound and
being wonderfully expert in distinguishing notes and
tones. All the messages in those days were read, but
young Andrew was quick to see the immense advantage

20 ANDREW CARNEGIE

of taking them by sound. Mr. J. D. Reed, in his '* His-
tory of the Telegraph,'* referring to Andrew Carnegie
at this time, says: ** I liked the boy's looks, and it was
very easy to see that though he was little he was full
of spirit. He had not been with me a month when he
began to ask whether I would teach him to telegraph.
I began to instruct him, and found him an apt pupil.
He spent all his spare time in practise, sending and
receiving by sound, not by tape, as was largely the
custom in those days. Soon he could do as well as
nwself."
JLj^ It was not long ere an opportunity came for Andrew
/ to use his knowledge. One morning while he was
practising a death message was signaled from Phila-
delphia. Death messages were considered of great
importance, but the opening was too good to be lost,
and confident in his powers Andrew attended to the
call. When the operator arrived he found the message
transcribed, and, moreover, it was perfectly correct.
This clever piece of work brought young Andrew into
notice, and proved for him the first stepping-stone to
success. Shortly afterwards he was promoted to the
position of an operator, with a salary of three hundred
dollars a year.^r

He had long looked forward to the time when he
should draw such a sum, for he had regarded it as the
ideal standard of comfort. For a youth of sixteen it

STEPPING-STONES 21

was indeed a promising start. This advance came at
an opportune moment, for his father had recently died,
and the burden of maintaining the home now fell
chiefly upon his youthful shoulders.

The following incident illustrates the confidence
reposed in him by those with whom he came in contact.
Pittsburgh had a supply of six newspapers, and they all
drew their information from the same telegraphic
service. The copyist offered yoimg Andrew a dollar a
week if he would do the transcribing. The offer was
accepted. He had always desired to see some of his
own handiwork in the papers, and he liked to be brought
in contact with the young fellows connected with the
press. The extra dollar a week he thus earned he
looked upon as ''pure business," inasmuch as it repre-
sented a transaction entirely on his own account, and
therefore he felt justified in retaining the remuneration
for his own use. This was his first bit of capital.

Everything yotmg Carnegie was set to do he did
with all his might, and there was no half-heartedness
or indolence in his work.

Naturally such a diligent young man could not long
remain unnoticed in a position which brought him into
contact with the principal business men of the city.
One of those who frequently visited the telegraph
office was Mr. Thomas A. Scott, Superintendent of
the Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

2 2 ANDREW CARNEGIE

Young Carnegie happened to be the operator through
whom he sent most of his messages, and his keen eye
singled him out as a yoimg fellow of unusual promise.
Accordingly, he spoke to him one day about his
work, and offered him a situation as operator in the
service of the railway company at an advance of ten
dollars per month on the salary he was then receiving.
Yotmg Carnegie, knowing full well the kind of man
who had made the offer, promptly accepted it.

He soon foimd that his new position gave him more
scope for the development of his gifts and the exercise
of his energies, and it was not long before he had made
himself a favorite with his chief and won his confidence
both as employer and friend.

/One day Mr. Scott called Andrew aside and informed
him that an excellent investment was open if he could
obtain five htmdred dollars. Owing to the death of the
owner, there was an opportunity to acquire ten shares
in the Adams Express Company. The shares were
of the value of sixty dollars each, and Mr. Scott volun-
teered to advance one himdred dollars if Andrew could
find the rest. The young operator knew it must be a
genuine opportunity, as his chief had offered it, and
his business instinct urged him to accept it. So he an-
swered "Yes,*' though at the time he had no idea where
the money was to be foimd. The door had been opened
for a business investment, and immediate advantage

STEPPING-STONES 23

must, he felt, be taken of the golden opportunity. The
fact that the money was not ready for immediate
handling did not deter him. He knew there was one
member f^f the family whose financial genius had
surmounted many difficulties in the past, and he had
abtmdant faith that she would devise some scheme for
procuring the needful sum.^

A family council wasJ' held the same evening, and
when Andrew had explained all, his mother, ever on
the lookout to help her industrious son, replied: '*It
must be done. We must mortgage the house. I will
take the steamer in the morning for Ohio, and see
uncle and ask him to arrange it." Her ability, pluck
and resource triumphed. The visit proved successful,
and the money was obtained. The shares were bought,
and the little home mortgaged "to give our boy a
start."

Mr. Carnegie refers to this incident in glowing terms.
His mother was the exalted ideal "of his youth, and he
says he can never adequately express what he owes to
her constant love and wonderful business sagacity.
"She succeeded. Where did she ever fail?" he once
remarked.

/it was her indefatigable energy, sound judgment
and strong character which laid the comer-stone of his
successful career. It is plainly evident that Andrew
Carnegie inherited his genius for finance and his great

24 ANDREW CARNEGIE

commercial ability from his mothey who little thought
at the time that her boy would one 'day control millions,
and have at his disposal more hard cash than any other

%g man.
lis small transaction was destined to prove the
forerunner of a long series of gigantic deals. All Mr.
Carnegie's investments have yielded good returns, but
this does not by any means signify that any young
man who can borrow five hundred dollars will lay the
basis of a great fortune, for, where one speculation
succeeds, a hundred end in miserable heart-breaking
failures. Mr. Carnegie was fortunate in making several
lucrative investments^Jbut his fortune has not been
amassed by speculation, or gambling; it is the solid
outcome of hardwork,TndusTfial genius and unflagging
jgerseverance. He has never bought nor SQld^.a.share of
stock on the Exchange.yF

The Adams Express Company paid monthly divi-
dends of one per cent., and in due course the young
investor received his first checque, which gave him
boundless delight.

In his new position he took keen interest in his work ;
step by step he mastered every detail, and gradually
acquired a comprehensive knowledge of the whole
system. One morning Mr. Scott was late in arriving
at the office, and in his absence an accident had occurred
on one of the lines, and a very critical condition had

STEPPING-STONES 25

arisen which needed prompt and decisive action. His
knowledge enabled Carnegie to grasp the situation at
once, and he took immediate action. There was only-
one track, and the freight trains were on the sidings
along the line, waiting for the express, which had the
right of way. He wired to the conductor of the express
that he was going to give the freight trains three hours
and forty minutes of his time, and asked for a reply.
He then wired to the conductor of each freight train
and started the whole of them. The telegrams were
signed 'Thomas A. Scott."

Mr. Scott thoroughly appreciated the ability dis-
played by his yotmg lieutenant. He recognized that
he could be depended upon at a crisis, and thence-
forth regarded him as his right-hand man. Andrew
was now Mr. Scott's private secretary, and gradually
a strong affection arose between the railway chief
and his protege.

When the Civil War broke out Mr. Scott was made
Assistant-Secretary of War. Andrew Carnegie had
just entered his twenty-fourth year, and the position
given him by his chief was a very responsible one. He
had to see to the transport of the troops and stores,
and generally to supervise the network of railways
and telegraphs. The Confederates had already done
considerable damage, but although the work was
arduous he manfully stuck to his post, working indef ati-

26 ANDREW CARNEGIE

gably night and day. Precision of movement, prompt-
ness and punctuality in the arrival and departure of
the traffic, avoidance of muddle, and instant attention
to stoppages and breakdowns — ^these things required
a clear head and nerves of steel.

Curiously enough, although he did no actual fighting
he was the third man wounded in the war. A tele-
graph wire which had been pinned to the ground, upon
being loosened suddenly sprang up and cut a severe
gash on his cheek, but he did not allow the injury to
affect his duties. He was present at several battles,
and at Bull Run was one of the last to leave the field.
But it was at Washington, in the War Department,
that he had his most interesting experiences, and it
was while engaged in his duties there that he inaugu-
rated a system of telegraphing by ciphers which was
found to be of invaluable service.

The carnage, the bloodshed and the devastation of
the land made so deep an impression upon his mind
that he has ever since had a horror of war ; in season and
out of season he has been a strong advocate of peace,
and the soldier's profession is one which he abhors.

He had no great liking for his duties, and was not

sorry when his chief returned to Pittsburgh on June ist,

18^2.

•^^Jt^ ^In an endeavor to discover the factors of Mr.

Carnegie's success, one is struck by the succession of

n

O 5

o

r- ^

•< «

STEPPING-STONES 27

opportunities that came to him for making money, and
the ^isi^i. with which on the one hand he estimated
their true value, and the ^ron^tnes^ with which on the
other hand he took advantage of them. The element
of chance in his investments was reduced to a minimum,
and he only put his money into ventures with which
he was practically acquainted. This fact was signally
demonstrated by his next investment, y^
^Shortly after his return from the war, while travel-
ing on the railway, he was accosted by a strange gentle-
man who asked him if he was connected with the Penn-
sylvania Railroad Company. On hearing that this was
so, the stranger drew from a bag he was carrying the
model of a sleeping-car. Mr. Carnegie, in describing
the incident, says: "He did not need to explain it at
great length. I seemed to see its value in a flash.
Railroad cars in which people could sleep on long jour-
neys— of course there were no railroads across the
continent yet — struck me as being the very thing for
this land of magnificent distances. I told him I would
speak about his model to Mr. Scott, and I did so
enthusiastically." He went so far in its praise as to
assert that it was "one of the inventions of the age.'*
Mr. Scott saw the inventor, and the outcome of the
negotiations was that two trial cars were run over the
Pennsylvania Railroad. They proved an encouraging
success, and it was decided to form a sleeping-car

28 ANDREW CARNEGIE

company. Mr. Carnegie was offered an interest, which
he willingly accepted.

As on the last occasion, so on this, he was faced with
the difficulty of providing the necessary funds, which
in this instance amounted to two hundred and twenty
dollars. He applied to his bank, and it was a delightful
surprise to him when the manager, patting him on the
back, said, **You are all right, Andy," and willingly
discounted his note. Mr. Carnegie, referring to this
incident, remarks, "It is a proud day for a man when
)ft he pays his last note, but not to be named in comparison
with the day in which he makes his first one, and gets a
banker to accept it. I have tried both and know."
The investment proved a lucrative one, and Mr.
Carnegie was enabled to pay the subsequent calls on
his stock out of the dividends distributed. The com-
pany was eventually absorbed by the Pullman Palace
Car Company.

This transaction put Mr. Carnegie in possession of his
first substantial sum of capital. Shortly afterwards
he received his last promotion as an employee by his
appointment to be superintendent of the Pittsburgh
Division of the Pennsylvania Railroady

Fortune's Flood

CHAPTER III

FORTUNE'S FLOOD

THE results accruing from his investment in the
Woodruff Sleeping Car Company, added to his
weekly savings, placed Mr. Carnegie in possession of a
fair sum of money. He had repaid all the loans re-
ceived from his mother and his banker, and was now
free to make what use he thought best of his moderate
capital ; nor had he long to wait before an opening was
afforded for this. Andrew Carnegie "struck oil," and
struck it to some purpose. From that profitable source
he extracted a return that far exceeded his utmost
expectations. He got in almost at the beginning of the
mineral oil boom, when the vast possibilities of the in-
dustry were little understood, and the great utility of
the product had not been discovered. In conjunction
with some friends, he subscribed toward the purchase
of the now famous Storey Farm, on Oil Creek, which
was bought for the sum of forty thousand dollars. At
that time the oil was running into a creek where lay
some flat-bottomed scows which were fitted up for its
conveyance. Upon a certain day each week the creek
was flooded by means of a temporary dam, and these

31

32 ANDREW CARNEGIE

scows were floated down to the Alleghany River. The
well was then producing one hundred barrels daily, but
Mr. Carnegie doubted if this output could be main-
tained. It was therefore decided to store up a large
reserve, which it was hoped would command a high
price in the time of expected scarcity. For this purpose
a reservoir was made with a capacity of 100,000 barrels,
or 3,300,000 gallons. This was filled, and its contents
were valued at $1,000,000, but as the reservoir leaked
very badly and large losses occurred through evapora-
tion oil was still allowed to run into it. Time went on,
thousands of barrels were sold, but still to the surprise
of the proprietors the supply seemed as plentiful as ever,
and at last some idea of the extent of the real resources
of their property dawned upon them. The well, or
rather the shares in it, reached a value on the Stock
Exchange of $5,000,000, and in one year the syndicate
paid the handsome sum of $1,000,000 in cash divi-
dends— certainly an astonishing return on an invest-
ment of $40,000.

When he joined in this oil venture Mr. Carnegie was
twenty-seven years of age, but though oil has made
more than one millionaire, it was not destined to be the
means by which he was to amass his fortune. Leaving
the oil springs to his contemporary, Mr. Rockefeller, he
turned his energies in another direction. He had not
long been in his new position of Superintendent on

FORTUNE'S FLOOD 33

the Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Raihoad,
when the company began to make some experiments
with an iron bridge. Up to this time bridges had been
made of wood, and the Pennsylvania Railroad was the
first to give a trial to another material. The experi-
ment was completely successful, and ^aye rise to much
thought in the mind of Mr. Carnegie. ^?here had been
so many delays on the railways through bridges being
burned or broken, that he had long ago come to the
conclusion that cast iron or some other tough non-
inflammable material would have to displace wood in
their construction; and after thoroughly considering
the matter, he came to the conclusion that there was a
great opening for a firm that could manufacture the
parts for iron bridges/

As usual, he had no sooner convinced himself that
the idea was sound and promising, than he commenced
to look around for ways and means to put his plans
into operation. No time was to be lost. The future
steel manufacturer was fully alive to the truth
embodied in Shakespeare's famous lines —

"There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune."

He formed another syndicate and started the Key-
stone Bridge Works, ^he first large piece of work done
by the firm was to build the great bridge over the Ohio
River, which has a span of three htmdred feet. As Mr.

34 ANDREW CARNEGIE

Carnegie had foreseen, the substitution of iron for
wood became general, both in bridge building and in
many other directions, and the Keystone Company
had soon largely to extend its works for increased
production. Thus was laid the foundation of what are
to-day the finest iron and steel works in the world/"/

For many years Mr. Carnegie had aspired to* enter
business on his own account, and to be the employer
of thousands of work-people ; and when he felt satisfied
that the prosperity of the new company was assured,
he resigned his post with the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, in whose service he had risen from telegraph
operator to divisional superintendent. Having relin-
quished his official duties, he was free to concentrate
all his energy and genius on the development of his own
business, and give full play to his marvelous powers
of organization.^^radually the superior merits of iron
bridges became widely known. [ The Keystone Com-
pany were the first in the field, and as they enjoyed
an excellent reputation for first-class workmanship
and prompt delivery, they soon reaped a rich harvestj
Orders flowed in from all quarters, and the increase of
business has continued without a break right up to the
present time./

hMUclq success of the Keystone Bridge Works was
achieved through the most progressive business
methods and by the boldest and most enterprising inno-

FORTUNE'S FLOOD 35

vationSw/ Mr. Carnegie has always been a man of great
commercial daring, although no one could charge him
with recklessness, for all his ventures have been pre-
ceded by thorough examination, and consideration of \
the prospects of success. Once having convinced him-
self of the value of an innovation or the soundness of a
scheme, he never wavered in his purpose, but, confident
in his ability, and encouraged by past successes, set
himself to carry his enterprises through to a triumphant
is^Af Calling to his aid every force that could help
him in any way, and perfecting his organization at every
point, he was prompt to avail himself of the discoveries
of science^^fHis works have always been equipped with
the most up-to-date machinery, while he has met the
large and continuous increase of business with corre-
spondingly large extensions of his works. All this was
accomplished only by the most resolute determination,
for he had constant difficulties to contend with. His
credit, however, was good. He had succeeded so far
with everything he had undertaken, and this fact
aided him in overcoming the greatest obstacle to his
progress, namely, the raising of capital.

Mr. Carnegie's next great effort, and the one that
lifted him into the position of the foremost iron and
steel producer in the world, was prompted by a dis-
covery which he made when on a visit to England. This
was in the year 1868, just at the time when the Bessemer

36 ANDREW CARNEGIE

invention had emerged from the experimental stage
into an accepted workable process of incalculable
value to the industrial world. Mr. Carnegie, of course,
had his hand on it in an instant. He learned that in
many directions, especially in rails, iron was rapidly
being displaced by the steel produced by this new
process. To a large iron founder this was a matter of
vital importance. The necessity for substituting steel
for iron in the manufacture of rails had been recognized
for some time by railway experts/^ Mr. Carnegie him-
self, when in the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, had suggested a process for hardening iron
rails by carbon, precisely the same as the Harvey pro-
cess. The company spent $20,000 on the experiment,
which was attended with excellent results, for the rails
turned out were a great improvement on the old ones,
and gave great satisfaction. But^he steel rails pro-
duced by the Bessemer process were an altogether
superior product, and Mr. Carnegie recognized that he
must at once adopt that process in his works. Accord-
ingly he acquired all the necessary knowledge and
equipment, and immediately returned to America to
commence operations by the erection of an enormous
plant for the Bessemer process of steel manufacture.
As he had been practically the first in America to recog-
nize the immense superiority of iron over wood for
certain purposes, so now he was the first to realize the

FORTUNE'S FLOOD ■ .^ 37

great superiority of steel over Kxory J ustas ne had
reaped a rich harvest through his foresight in being
ready to turn out iron bridges, so now he reaped an even
richer harvest in being prepared to supply the sudden
demand for steel rails^-^

In mentioning England as the source from whence
this "Steel King'* drew his inspiration to launch out
in the direction of steel production, one cannot help
being struck with the keen irony of the circumstance
in the light of present day competition. At this time
America had not the slightest chance in competition
with Britain for the markets of the world, and thousands
of tons of iron and steel were exported to the United
States by Britain despite the high tariff duties. Mr.
Carnegie had little hope that America could compete
with England in neutral markets, and none that she
could eclipse her. Writing in 1883, he expressed the
following opinion: '*Aj2ieriGar>caxLii]lly_^nder herself
.ridiculous by entering the„.water. That is England's
domain. The first cost of a steel ship is about one-half
on the Clyde what it is on the Delaware. Steel can be
made, and is made, in Great Britain for one-half of its
cost here. Not in our day will it be wise for America
to leave the land. It is a very fair division as it stands —
the land for America, the sea for England." Nineteen
years later, while Mr. Carnegie is still expecting a long
lease of life, Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan has surprised

38 ANDREW CARNEGIE

England and the world at large by acquiring for Ameri-
can interests a mercantile marine of great ships of
several lines. Mr. Carnegie's remarks in 1883 show
how utterly in the dark even the most far-seeing of
America's industrial leaders were regarding the vast
potentialities of their country.

y/^The developments brought about by this introduction
of the Bessemer steel process were so promising that
Mr. Carnegie found himself face to face with a remark-
able situation. He had now reached the supreme crisis
in his career. Whatever course he decided to adopt,
either that of resting on his oars or of pressing forward
to further progress, was almost certain to bring him
great wealth. He elected to advance and extend.
The next step he took was destined to revolutionize
the industrial methods of the world, and to put him
on the road to the acquirement of such a fortune as
would astonish mankind. A new era in industrial
history was at hand, and why should he not head the

Y^vance \/

I /^ close study of the position convinced him that no
country in the world could better take advantage of
the Bessemer process than the United States, with its
vast undeveloped mineral resources and its phenomenal
industrial growth. He drew up a scheme as com-
prehensive as it was daring. This involved nothing
less than the erection of more great works and the

FORTUNE'S FLOOD 39

acquisition of his own coal and iron fields and of his
own transport facilities. It shows the indomitable
spirit of the man, and the intensity of his ambition, that
although already the possessor of a forttme, he should
risk all in grappling with such a mighty venture as thi^
Never before had he shown such energy and determina-
tion. Neither money nor labor was spared in the
building of the vast premises now called the Edgar
Thompson Steel Works, across the Monongahela River
from Homestead. The most skilled engineers available
were employed in equipping the works with the finest
plant money could buy; and to supplement this he
acquired vast tracts of land containing immeasurable
mineral resources. He had to go from 700 to
900 miles away, to the shores of the Great
Lakes, in order to procure the bulk of his properties.
He followed this up by purchasing a fleet of steamers
to transport the ore across the Great Lakes; and by
building his own railway of about 425 miles to carry it 1
down to his works round Pittsburgh. "W

All the world knows how splendidly this courageous
enterprise was rewarded. /The superiority of steel
rails over those made from iron was speedily acknowl-
edged, and Mr. Carnegie was simply overwhelmed with
orders. /Vast as his output was, it was totally inade-
quate'to meet the demand. What he had thought
were ample preparations turned out to be altogether

40 ANDREW CARNEGIE

insufficient.^,^Ie was now determined to become the
undisputed master of the steel market, and to shrink
from no responsibiHty in order to maintain his lead.

r It was imperative that h^ should largely increase his
productive capacity^^Y He" nad to "strike while the
iron was hot/* and could not wait for the erection of
fresh works. .>ile therefore turned his attention to the
premises of a rival concern, The Homestead Steel Com-
pany, whose enormous foundries were close to his
own works, and opened up negotiations with these
competitors which resulted in their absorption by the
Carnegie combination. --5^t her extensions and acquisi-
tions were made until, in 1888, Mr. Carnegie possessed
no less than seven great iron and steel works, besides
his vast coal fields, iron mines, railways, docks and
Jieets of steamers^

— - Two hundred and fifty million dollars is a stupendous
sum, but when one considers the unique position Mr.
Carnegie obtained in the greatest industry in the world,
it is not surprising that he succeeded in amassing even
such a colossal fortune. He appeared with his mag-
nificent manufacturing facilities just at the period
when the prosperity of America was in its infancy. The
unparalleled railway extension in the country had
scarcely commenced ; great towns were springing up on
all sides, and in every direction enormous quantities

FORTUNE'S FLOOD 41

of iron and steel were needed for structural purposes.
He had reduced the cost of production to a minimum.
By means of his railway and steamboat services he had
brought his mineral resources within easy access of his
foundries, and had acquired every tool and_process
necessary to manipulate with his own materials, and
by his own workmen, the rough ore into the finished
product. He was thus well able to defy competition
from any quarter, and having secured the home trade,
he stepped forward to invade the markets of the world.
He extended his trade on all sides; but vast as his
volume of business was, and rapid as his progress had
been, he was able, through his wonderful organization,
to keep his business thoroughly under control, so that
his profits leaped ahead at a corresponding rate. It
was a glorious triumph for skilful organization and
dying enterprise^/^

/it is difiicult to realize the full extent of this mighty
' achievement and the influence it has exerted on the
progress of the world. No one can deny such a man
a tribute of the highest admiration. He is a genius in \
the most exact sense of the word, and he has used his /
gifts and powers to stimulate to a remarkable degree
the forward march of civiHzation. Mr. Carnegie
takes his place among those giants of humanity who,
by the heights of their attainments, have lifted to a

42 ANDREW CARNEGIE

higher plane the possibilities of man, and have forced
a point upward the human standard of excellence,
from which succeeding generations will start forward
to further progress.

The Steel Master

CHAPTER IV

THE STEEL MASTER

M

iron and steel, towered head and shoulders

/ TV yf^' CARNEGIE, as the undisputed monarch of

above all his rivals. He was the chief of a trade com-
bination that enjoyed the distinction of being the larg-
est employer of labor in the world/ The Carnegie Steel
Company, which was reconstructed at the beginning of
1900 with a capital of $100,000,000, owned three im-
mense-works — ^the Homestead, the Edgar Thompson
and the Duquesne, and seven smaller ones./ When in
full swing it is estimated that this huge concern gave
employment to no less than 45,000 work-people, and if
we reckon the small average of five members to a family
it means that this one firm controlled the happiness of
over 225,000 persons. / The works at Homestead alone
covered seventy-five acres of land and employed nearly
4,000 men. One who has visited these works says:
"On first viewing Homestead two thoughts are forced
upon a mind of mechanical bent, namely, the vast
wealth necessary to build, equip and run a plant of
such magnitude ; and the ingenuity and skill required
to deviseand manage it.' * /The works were managed by

45

46 ANDREW CARNEGIE

experienced men of great ability, and the workmen were
a highly skilled body second to none in the country^/
It was Mr. Carnegie's habit to have mailed to him,
whatever part of the world he might be, a tabulated
form ingeniously devised, containing the details of the
total product for the day of each and every department
of the business. In this way he was able to keep in
constant touch with the affairs of the firm. Every
Monday a meeting of the members of the firm was held,
all important matters were discussed and decided upon
there, and full minutes of each meeting were regularly
sent to any absent member. As Mr. Carnegie lived in
New York, this plan kept him well informed on all
plans of action.

The Homestead mill manufactured armor plates
for the ships for the navy and all kinds of structural
material. It contained twenty open-hearth furnaces
and two ten-ton Bessemer converters having a daily
product of 3,000 tons of steel ingots, which were used
in the manufacture of a great variety of articles, from
the steel rims of a bicycle to the 200-ton armor
plates of a battleship. Here also were constructed the
gigantic steel frames for many buildings, and par-
ticularly for ** sky-scrapers." In the manufacturing
processes electricity plays an important part. This
valuable force was used as the motive-power for moving
huge blocks of material and in a hundred and one

THE STEEL MASTER 47

other ways. Masses weighing two hundred tons and
more were handled with ease by the electric machines,
all of which were fed from a single station, whence
wires extended, like the arteries in the human body,
to the different departments. The workmen became
accustomed to the use of the electric agent and handled
it as confidently as they would steam or water. In
every respect the machinery was of the most modern
description, and was supplemented in every possible
manner by the latest devices of scientific discovery.

Next in importance to the Homestead were the
Edgar Thompson Steel Works, situated on the other
side of the river. These were chiefly devoted to the
production of pig-iron and the manufacture of steel
rails. The furnaces had a daily output of 2,800 tons of
pig-iron, a large part of which was used on the premises,
and the remainder transferred to Homestead. The
rail mill was perhaps the finest in the world, and was
capable of producing 1,600 tons of steel rails per day.
The third large foundry, the Duquense, on the
Monongahela River, had furnaces that produced
in one day as much as the largest furnaces thirty
years ago produced in a week. They had a capacity
for daily converting 2,000 tons of pig-iron into billets,
rails, sheets, bars, etc.

In addition to these vast works under Mr. Camegie*s
control, there were the wire and nail mills at Beaver

48 ANDREW CARNEGIE

Falls ; the structural works at Pittsburgh ; the Isabella
furnaces ; the Lucy furnaces ; and the Keystone Bridge
Works. Another branch of the Carnegie combination
was the Frick Coke Company, which was the largest of
its kind in the world. It owned coal-bearing lands to
the extent of 40,000 acres, and in addition possessed
more than two-thirds of the famous Connellsville coal-
fields. It had an operating plant consisting of 10,500
ovens with a possible daily output of 20,000 tons.
Every day a line of railway trucks five miles long con-
veyed the product to the various foundries of the firm.*
The Carnegie combination also owned vast tracts of
land, including the richest iron ore mines on Lake
Superior. It possessed a special fleet of steamers for the
transport of the ore from the mines on Lake Superior
to Cleveland on Lake Erie, a distance of over
700 miles, and had laid its own private railway to
take the ore from Cleveland down to its various works
round Pittsburgh. The company possessed a large
extent of natural gas bearing land, from which the gas
was conveyed in pipes to the furnaces. It had a private
telegraph system, and its wires ran to all the important
industrial centres of the country. Branch offices of the
firm were to be found in all the large cities of America,
and its total clerical staff was so numerous that at the

* Whese figures were compiled some years ago. The productions
of all the Carnegie properties have largely increased since.

THE STEEL MASTER 49

head office, Pittsburgh, a hundred and fifty clerks could
take a vacation at one time without causing any dis-
organization of the system.

Xl'he plant of the Carnegie works was capable of pro-
ducing an annual output in steel alone of 3,000,000
tons, of which about two-thirds would be open-hearth
steel. This Titanic concern was held together by
the most perfect organization, in which the highest
degree of skill was employed./

Here are a few facts to illustrate the wonderful
administration of this vast industry. It was possible
to transport ore from the shores of Lake Superior to
Pittsburgh, nearly a thousand miles away, and convert
it into steel in ten days, despite the fact that three
separate shipments have to be made ! Some of the
open mines at Lake Superior were capable of special
treatment, and for digging the ore in these steam
shovels were used. One of these shovels could load
a 2 5 -ton car in two and one-half minutes. The
shovel picked up five tons of earth at every stroke,
and filled the car in five operations.

At Duluth, the western head of Lake Superior,
there were two loading jetties, each 2,000 feet
long, and rows of ore bins built into these, each
holding from 150 to 170 tons. The railroad ran
over these bins, and dropped down their loads
of twenty-five tons, to be subsequently shot into

50 ANDREW CARNEGIE

the holds of the ships. At these docks ore was
shipped at the rate of i,ooo to i,6oo tons per vessel
per hour. A 6,000-ton vessel, equal to the capacity
of 750 8-ton cars, could be loaded with ore
in six hours or less. From the Lake Superior
district 17,000,000 tons were shipped in 1899. The
railway traffic from the ore-receiving ports to the
smelting furnaces, in some cases extending to 700
miles, was carried on by mammoth locomotives,
some weighing 127 tons each, hauling 1,600 tons of
ore in thirty cars — great steel trucks specially built
to carry about fifty tons apiece.

At the mills the blast-furnaces were served by
a hoisting engine controlled by a single indi-
vidual. Here also the Wellman-Seaver electrical
charging machines were used. This is the latest
mechanical triumph of its kind, relieving human sinew
and muscle of the strain and tension of heavy work
amid the terrible heat of the smelting furnaces. It
traveled on rails past the rows of furnaces, and the
attendant, comfortably seated, merely moved an
electrical switch which actuated a powerful arm of
steel. This took charge of pig-iron, scrap and ore,
which it deposited inside the furnaces. The machine
fed furnace after furnace with their requirements of
half a ton at a time in a few seconds each. The doors
of the furnaces were opened and closed by water power.

THE STEEL MASTER 51

And so one might continue to enumerate the vast
resources and the wonderful armory of this industrial
Im^g.

-;^Such a magnificent aggregation of industrial power
has never before been under the dominion of a single
man. / This vast organization, with its army of skilled
workmen, was the great stumbling-block to the pro-
moters when they first schemed to create a Steel Trust
of such magnitude as would enable them to dominate
the markets of the world. The properties under Mr.
Carnegie's control were too great and the value of them
too fully realized to allow of easy adjustment of owner-
ship. The amounts offered Mr. Carnegie by the Trust /
organizers were entirely out of proportion to the value 1^
of the property and the negotiations fell through for
the time.

Mr. Carnegie announced his intention of equipping /
enormous works at Conneaut, Ohio, at a cost of
$15,000,000, to be devoted to special competition with
the products of the Trust. He also decided to build up
another steel mill which should surpass in capacity any- ^
thing in existence. As for the Trust's control of the \
railways, he boldly declared that he would construct J
his own services.

This mood, characteristic of the man, showed more
clearly than anything else could his confidence in his
properties, and brought out in strong relief the value

52 ANDREW CARNEGIE

of the steel plants. The absolute necessity became
evident that they must be included in the combination,
and an offer was made Mr. Carnegie for his interests
which, though so great as to be almost inconceivable,
is believed to be in proper proportion to their value.
Mr. Carnegie sold out on his own terms. He received
for his interest $250,000,000 of bonds on the Trust's
properties, bearing interest at the rate of five per cent,
per annum.

In an address to the people of Pittsburgh, Mr.
Carnegie explained the reasons that had prompted him
to retire from business, as follows : * 'An opportunity to
retire from business came to me unsought, which I con-
sidered it my duty to accept. My resolve was made in
youth to retire before old age. From what I have seen
around me, I cannot doubt the wisdom of this course,
although the change is great, even serious, and seldom
brings the happiness expected. But this is because so
many, having abundance to retire upon, have so little
to retire to. I have always felt that old age should be
spent, not as the Scotch say, in 'makin' mickle mair,*
but in making a good use of what has been acquired,
and I hope my friends at Pittsburgh will approve of my
action in retiring while still in full health and vigor, and
I can reasonably expect many years for usefulness in
fields which have other than personal aims."

It must not be understood for one moment that

THE STEEL MASTER • 53

Mr. Carnegie's opposition to the Trust was actuated in
the slightest degree by any personal objection to the.
formation of these mammoth imdertakings. The /
Carnegie Company, of which he was the head, was in K^
its way a huge combination ; and on many occasions C
he has expressed the opinion that trusts are a great \
benefit to the community, and are simply a result_y
of the advance of human enterprise.

So late as May, 1901, he said: "All these consoli-
dations of steel trusts, railways and steamship lines
are steps in advance of still greater movements which
will distinguish the twentieth century. This unifica-
tion of transport by sea and land is a mark of genu-
ine world-progress. Hereafter American railway lines
will be under one interest from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, and one management in New York will be able
to fix rates to meet the situation. In a short time the
great tnmk railways will own steamship lines on the
Pacific and Atlantic, thus consolidating transport on
land and sea, and the business of the world will be
carried on with but little division. It would be
unwise not to promote these movements.'*

There is much shrewd common sense in these
remarks, but the growth of these gigantic combinations
has been so rapid that widespread suspicion exists as
to their soundness. If their main object is to be
to gain a monopoly, then they deserve to fail, for

54 ANDREW CARNEGIE

monopolies are often an industrial evil both to the
work-people and to the community at large.
>^In surveying the phenomenal success of Mr. Carnegie,
one's curiosity is aroused as to the instruments he em-
ployed to attain it and the means by which he exer-
cised control over his extensive interests. The most
important factor has undoubtedly been his consummate
genius for organization, and almost on a par with this
J3aust-be-placed his remarkable -insigljt into human
nature. ^Mr. Carnegie himself attributes his success
chiefiv to the, hand nf r.lftver young men which he
gathered roimd hini. He has an unbotmded belief in
young men, and he has never been afraid to intrust
them with the most important duties. ''It is astonish-
ing," he says, "what a young man can do if he is only
trusted." His method has been to keep a keen^
lookout for any young fellows of exceptional ability, r
whether in his own employ or in the employ oi^
others. ^And rarely did^ his iudgment_ fai^^him.
Scores^ of wealthy men in America to-day owe their^
position to Andrew Carnegie's timely encouragement^^

Mr. H. C. Frick, one of the foremost men in tKe
commercial world to-day, is one of those whom Mr.
Carnegie credited with the making of a first-class busi-
ness man, and he took him from the employ of another
firm and gave him a position in his own organization.
Another instance is that of a young fellow who served

THE STEEL MASTER 55

behind a shop counter in Dunfermline. He sent him
to Pittsburgh and gave him the usual opportunities to
distinguish himself. The young man rose rapidly, was
finally admitted into partnership, and is now a rich
man. Perhaps the most striking tribute to Mr.
Carnegie's perceptive faculty is Mr. Schwab, who is
now receiving an enormous salary as manager of the
new steel trust, the United States Steel Corporation.
He entered Mr. Carnegie's service as a boy, and by
his extraordinary smartness and his rare capacity
for work he attracted the attention of his employer.
He had neither capital nor influence, but he had merit,
and he steadily advanced, each new promotion reveal-
ing in him greater ability, until he attained the highest
position in the greatest industrial concern and was
president of the company before he reached thirty.
These are the men who formed Mr. Carnegie's working^
cabinet.

It is hard to define in exact terms the power which
Mr. Carnegie had of stimulating his subordinates and
infusing them with his own consuming enthusiasm.
He had a perfect genius for discovering young men of
exceptional ability, and, having secured them, they
were given a fair chance to prove their worth. No
favoritism of any kind was allowed, all promotion
being solely by merit. His first partner, David A.
Stewart, and his brother, Tom Carnegie, both had

56 ANDREW CARNEGIE

grown-up sons, but none of these young men were
admitted to the concern, and at death their parents*
interests were paid out. "Dead heads" were a luxury
never tolerated in the Carnegie Company. Having
worked his own way in the world, Mr. Carnegie knew
how best to encourage a deserving youth. *'Respon-
sibiHty," he once said, ''thrown upon a young man,
that is the thing to bring out what is in him." But
he insisted that the youth himself should be thoroughly
interested in his work, and be animated with a strong
desire to succeed. "Concentration," he says, "is my
motto — first honesty, then industry, then concentra^
-tiQrCL_and^he expected it to be the motto of hi^
employees. If they did not give their whole energies
to their work they lost their places or were degraded.
Each new man had to maintain the standard of excel-
lence reached by his predecessor. Mere mediocrity
and languid interest were not tolerated.

On the other hand, hard and conscientious work
was promptly and handsomely rewarded, and when
a subordinate was appointed to the position of a
manager, Mr. Carnegie maintained that the test of
his ability was not what he did himself, but what he
could get others to do in cooperation with him. " The
great manager," he said, "is the man who knows how
to surround himself with men much abler than himself.
I have always found that a manager of one of our great

THE STEEL MASTER 57

works has been able to make excellent managers out of
material which before his magic touch was quite
mediocre. He inspires his subordinates to almost
superhuman efforts."

It was men of this caliber that were given a stake in
the business in the shape of stock, or who were pro-
moted to be partners. They worked together, heart
and soul, for a common interest, and Mr. Carnegie is
proud of the fact that he has never had occasion to
exercise his authority over any one of them. He
pays to these talented, ambitious young fellows an
unqualified tribute of admiration —

"I do not believe any one man can make a success
of a business nowadays. I am sure I never could have
done so without my partners, of whom I had thirty-
two, the brightest and cleverest young fellows in the
world. All are equal to each other, as the members of
the Cabinet are equal. The chief must only be first
among equals. I know that every one of my partners
would have smiled at the idea of my being his superior,
although the principal stockholder. The way they
differed from me and beat me many a time was
delightful to behold. I never enjoyed anything more
than to get a sound thrashing in an argument at the
hands of these young geniuses. No man will make a
great business who wants to do it all himself or to get
all the credit for doing it. I believe firmly in youths

58 ANDREW CARNEGIE

as executive agents. Older heads should be reserved
for counsel."

An English writer has called attention to this and
says that *'Mr. Carnegie sets an example that British
employers might well take note of. There can be no
doubt that to this practice of placing young men in
responsible positions is largely due the enterprise and
progress of American commerce.'*

The power of organization and the faculty of
recognizing and developing dependable assistants
contributed largely to Mr. Carnegie's success.

As an Employer of Labor

CHAPTER V

AS AN EMPLOYER OF LABOR

/Y^ PINION regarding Mr. Carnegie as an employer
V^ of labor is sharply divided. On the one hand
he is looked upon as a man who has violated in practice
all the excellent theory that he has written on the sub-
ject ; and, on the other hand, it is asserted that he has
done everything possible for his work-people compatible
with the maintenance of his business in the face of fierce
competition.

In attempting to review Mr. Carnegie's record in this
respect, it is of the first importance to take into con-
sideration the conditions of capital and labor that
existed in the United States during his career/ The
policy of an employer in America and the policy of an
employer in England must be judged from different
standpoints, for the two are on a totally different foot-
ing with their employees and have to contend with
an entirely diverse environment /in America, even at
the present time, employers and employees are often
at variance, and during Mr. Carnegie's time, ten to
twenty years ago, the period with which we are con-
cerned, the antagonism between the two was much
more intense than it is to-da¥f

62 ANDREW CARNEGIE

^

The set purpose of the employers naturally was to
extract from their workmen the maximum of labor
at the minimum of cost, both in wages and accommo-
dation. The avowed object of the workmen was to
obtain the highest wages and the shortest hours possible,
and to work no harder than was necessary. Each party
was aware of the intentions of the other, and conse-
quently each watched every move of the other keenly.
Wrecking tactics by the one side at the time strikes
were in progress were followed by swift punishment.
But in the main the weakest had gone to the wall, and
the workman was under the heel of his employer,
though occasionally, being supported by public opinion,
the workman won./

''•Such a state of distrust between capital and labor
could only be regarded as deplorable in the extreme by
a man of the temperament of Mr. Carnegie, who has
always been astute enough to recognize that good feel-
ing between master and workman is essential for the
highest prosperity of both. He considers that nothing
pays so well in business as generous treatment and
mutual good-wilL His experience, he says, goes to
prove that V the firm which has a reputation for taking
the best care of its men has the best chance, because the
best men will gravitate to that firm and stay with it/^^
Mr. Carnegie's prime prescription for smooth working
in the industrial arena is the copartnership principle,

AS AN EMPLOYER OF LABOR 63

but as that was not practicable he advocated the next
best thing, namely, the sliding-scale arrangement of
remiineration. This part of his theory he put into prac-
tice in his own works. The scale there was based
on the price of the product. Once a month a com-
mittee approved by the men met, and before this com-
mittee was laid all the information necessary to enable
it to estimate what prices the firm would obtain. An
average price was then agreed upon, and this formed
the basis for the wages for the ensuing month.

Of course, the weakness of this system is that, as
circumstances change, differences arise regarding the
fairness of the percentage of remuneration on the price
of the products, and in this respect it is little better
than the old method. Its great advantage lies in the
fact that it brings masters and men into contact and
tends to promote mutual self-respect. Whenever
they do come together on such occasions, Mr.Camegie
holds that the employer, being the better trained and
more cultured party, should exercise great forbearance
in regard to the men's behavior. If they are rough
and surly in their manners, and at times somewhat
arrogant in their bearing, he should overlook this as the
outcome of their inferior education and mode of life.
He also thinks that it is not too much to expect men
entrusted with the management of great properties
to devote some part of their time to searching out any

V

64 ANDREW CARNEGIE

causes of discontent among their employees, and,
having satisfied themselves that they are genuine, to
meet the men more than half-way in an endeavor to
settle them.

/' But he insisted on the men doing their best. They
must work and work hard. He tolerates no slackness.
Idlers are an abomination to him. He is convinced
that a state of regular labor is the best possible con-
dition for the human race, and produces the best citi-
zen. He honors the laborer far above the aristocrat.
** The lot of a skilled workman," he says, " is far better
than that of the heir to an hereditary title, who is very
likely to lead an unhappy, wicked life." Mr. Carnegie
was once asked his views on the "too old at forty"
problem. He replied: "A man at forty who is in
search of something to do has a prima facie case against
him. Long before he is forty he should have shown
himself to be indispensable and received either a high
salary or an interest in the business. Of course, there
are exceptional cases where a worthy man is suddenly
deprived of work at forty. His is a sad case indeed."
He does not advise workmen in comfortable circum-
stances to emigrate and take great risks. If a man can
make thirty shillings a week in his native land, Mr.
Carnegie thinks he would be very foolish to leave it,
unless he is impelled by an uncontrollable ambition
and has no ties to bind him. Even though men may

AS AN EMPLOYER OF LABOR 65

be fortunate enough to earn higher wages, very likely
the conditions of life will not suit them and they will
become dissatisfied. "Look before you leap" is the
adyice he offers.

/Thus far we have studied Mr. Carnegie in theory/^
/Wow let us see how he has put all these admirable
sentiments and unimpeachable principles into practice./
The best test that can be applied is the condition of
labor surrounding his own workmen. Mr. Hamlin
Garland, a well-known writer, though having no
technical experience, describes the impressions he re-
ceived from a visit to the Homestead works, - His train-
ing as a novelist naturally impelled him to look at
things from the descriptive writer's point of view, and
not become interested in the picturesque, both horrible
and attractive. In his approach to Homestead Mr.
Garland was struck by the desolate appearance of the
district, and the wretchedness of the town itself, he
says, was deplorable. "The streets were horrible;
the buildings were poor; the sidewalks were sunken
and full of holes; and the crossings were formed of
sharp-edged stones like rocks in a river bed. Every-
where the yellow mud of the streets lay kneaded into
sticky masses, through which groups of pale, lean men
slouched in faded garments, grimy with the soot and
dirt of the mills. The town was as squalid as could
well be imagined, and the people were mainly of the

66 ANDREW CARNEGIE

discouraged and sullen type to be found everywhere
where labor passes into the brutalizing stage of
severity."'

These' depressing conditions are apparently insepar-
able from a newly established iron or steel mill in any
locality, and this is specially true where soft coal is
used. Grime, heat, hard, exhausting labor, these are
conditions that are to be found in every steel mill, and
the works of the Carnegie Company differed little from
other manufactories of the same kind except in extent,
but it may be truly said that the larger the mill the
mpre depressing the conditions.

/f After commenting on the muggy, smoke-laden atmos-
phere, he proceeds to describe the conditions inside the
mills, and the men engaged at their tasks, and tells
us that they worked with a sort of desperate attention
and alertness.

"That looks like hard work," I said to one of them
to whom my companion introduced me. He was
breathing hard from his labor.

*' Hard ! I guess it's hard. I lost forty pounds the
first three months I came into the business. It sweats
the life out of a man. I often drink two buckets of
water in twelve hours; the sweat drips through my
sleeves, and runs down my legs and fills my shoes."

"But that isn't the worst of it," said my guide, a
former employee. " It's a dog's life. Now those men

AS AN EMPLOYER OF LABOR 67

work twelve hours, and sleep and eat out ten more.
You can see a man don't have much time for anything
else. You can't see your friends or do anything but
work. That's why I got out of it. I used to come
home so exhausted, staggering like a man with a

Again and again he is impressed with the general
appearence of exhaustion that is shown in the haggard
faces of the toilers, and he says " their work is of the
sort that hardens and coarsens.** Everywhere in the
enormous sheds were pits gaping like the mouth of hell,
and ovens emitting a terrible degree of heat, with grimy
men filling and lining them. One man jumps down,
works desperately for a few minutes, and is then pulled
up, exhausted. Another immediately takes his place;
there is no hesitation. When he spoke to the men
they laughed. It was winter when he made his visit.
They told him to come in the summer, during July,
when one could scarcely breathe. An old workman,
relating the experience of his first day's toil, says he
applied for work, and the superintendent, saying he
looked strong and tough, set him on the pit work. For
the first time in his life he fainted repeatedly, and when
he left at night he could scarcely drag himself home.
^They take great risks, too; and the injuries sus-
tained are of a most frightful character. An explosion
in the pouring of the molten metal, and half a dozen

68 ANDREW CARNEGIE

men are terribly mangled and one or two killed. Such
incidents are not infrequent. The continuous dread
of an accident, combined with the intense drive of the
work, constitute a fearful strain.-* This is a fearful
picture, painted in the darkest, most repulsive colors,
but this is but one side of it. Nothing is said of the
comfortable homes which steady employment at
from four to ten dollars a day enabled the steady^
sober workman to maintain — the self-confidence that
continuous employment begets. The environments of
the mills were improved as rapidly as possible, streets
were paved, schools were established, and public
institutions of various kinds were initiated Several
free educational institutions were founded by Mr.
Carnegie in an attempt to help his workmen help
themselves. The other side of this picture is full
of light and hope, though there are many exceptions.
Many of the men have happy families, and those
of the better class are very well off. The company
houses are very good, and have all modern conve-
niences, and the men who are sober and care for their
families, besides being prosperous live comfortably.

The effect of the work on these men was brought
out in a conversation with one of them which Mr.
Garland had the morning after his visit to the mills.
"The worst part of the whole business," said the
workman, "is, it brutalizes a man. You can't help

AS AN EMPLOYER OF LABOR 69

it. You start to be a man, but you become more
and more a machine, and pleasures are few and far
between. It's like any severe labor; it drags you
down mentally and morally just as it does physically.
I wouldn't mind it so much but for the long hours.
Twelve hours is too long."

The rate of pay in the works varied with the class
of labor. But, speaking generally, at Homestead
the workmen received a daily wage of from $1.50 to
$10.00. The old experienced men in these works are
hardened specimens of humanity, with muscles and
bodies as tough as the steel they handle. They are
wonderfully deft and skilful, and are capable of turn-
ing out an immense amount of work at a high rate of
speed.

>^r. Carnegie freely admits that English workmen
would not work as these men do, and he calculates that
each man does nearly twice as much as his English pro-
totype. He considers the climate of America much
more invigorating than that of Britain, and he puts
forward other contributory causes of the difference.

But there can be no doubt that the extra work is
forced by the tremendous drive or pressure of the
American system. The men are bent upon earning
high wages, and the masters are determined to beat ^^
all competition. Progress, the accumulation of wealth,
complete supremacy over all competitors, these are

70 ANDREW CARNEGIE

the paramount considerations, and everything less is
disregarded./'

/nvhat reply does Mr. Carnegie or any other employer
make when easier conditions are suggested? He
tells you that it is impossible unless all manufac-
turers in the same line agree on practically the same
conditions: competition is inexorable. If these meas-
ures were not adopted, they would be left behind in
the fightv' And Mr. Carnegie is certainly not the man
to be "left"; rather is he the man to leave others.
/ He is a typical American employer. Nowhere has the
drive and strain been more intense, and the discipline
more rigorous and unbending, than in the works of the
Carnegie Company. /But if Mr. Carnegie drives his men
hard, he pays them well. He claims that the wages
paid in his works have been from ten to fifteen
per cent, higher than in any other works of a similar
nature in the United State^-. Inside his works he was
in that respect superiof to the typical American
employer, and outside he is far ahead of his commercial
brethren. The average manufacturer in America, it
is said, compares very unfavorably with his British
rival in the interest he takes in the well-being of his
work-people during their leisure time. Homestead,
as we have seen, was a dismal place. Model working-
class communities were conspicuous by their absence.
Mr. Carnegie, we know, has done and is doing a great

AS AN EMPLOYER OF LABOR 71

deal in the way of providing libraries, music halls and
clubs, and he has recently made a gift of $4,000,000 for
the formation of a pension fund for his work-people.
In another way Mr. Carnegie has shown his breadth of
sympathy. On the principle of helping those who help
themselves, the Carnegie firm allows every workman to
deposit his savings in the business and pays him six
per cent, interest on the money invested. On the other
hand, the firm is willing to lend to any of its workmen
desirous of building or purchasing a house the sum
needed for the purpose, charging interest at the rate of
six per cent, on the loan.

Mx. Carnegie is also deserving of the highest praise
for the strenuous efforts he has made to reduce the
hours of labor in America by working the eight-hour
instead of the twelve-hour shifts. His action in this
matter convincingly proves his real desire to alleviate
the exceptional strain to which American people are
subject. He says: "I sympathize with the desire to
have shorter hours of labor. We have too long hours
of labor in America^ There is not a blast-furnace or
manufactory that has to run night and day at which
the workers do not work twelve hours a day, the
twenty-four hours being divided into two shifts. But
to reduce the hours of labor in works that have to run
night and day can only be done by a general law com-
pelling all such works to adopt eight-hour shifts. We

72 ANDREW CARNEGIE

tried this voluntarily ourselves at Pittsburgh for two
years. We worked all the blast-furnace men on three
shifts of eight hours each, hoping that other iron manu-
facturers would be induced or compelled to follow our
example. But only one firm in the whole country did
so; and finally competition became so keen that we
were forced to go back to the twelve-hour shifts. It
was a question whether we were to run the works at a
loss or not, and after losing at least $500,000 by the
experiment, we had to ask our men to return to the two
shifts a day. We offered to divide with the men
the extra cost of thirty-three and one-third per cent,
which the three shifts involved, so that we might con-
tinue the eight-hour system, the firm paying seventeen
per cent, and the men sixteen per cent. ; but rather
than do this they decided to go back to the two shifts
of twelve hours a day."

These facts should be carefully considered by people
who make the complaint against Mr. Carnegie that he
ought to have been satisfied with a smaller f ortime and
rendered easier the conditions of his work-people.
This consummation is not very easily attained, because
on a turnover so vast as that of the Carnegie Company
the slightest -alteration may mean either a large profit
or a huge loss. Mr. Carnegie holds his workmen in
high appreciation, and he is exceedingly grateful to
them for their part in building up his fortune. He

AS AN EMPLOYER OF LABOR 73

acknowledges the severity of their labor, and he
always speaks of them in the highest terms of admira-
tion and respect. There is almost a pathetic ring
about the following words: "I remember after Vandy
and I had gone round the world, and were walking the
streets of Pittsburgh, we decided that the Americans
were the saddest-looking race we had ever seen. Life
is so terribly earnest here. Ambition urges us all on,
from him who handles a spade to him who employs
thousands . We know no rest . ' '

Mr. Carnegie stands by the fact that he has been
instrumental in giving employment to a vast army of
workmen. This is his favorite reply to all attacks
upon him, and he thinks more of this achievement
than he does of all his benefactions. "Those who
insure steady employment to thousands at wages not
lower than others pay need not be ashamed of their
record; for steady employment is, after all, the one
indispensable requisite for the welfare and progress of
the people."

In addressing his workmen at Pittsburgh in 1893 he
said: **I made my first dollar in Pittsburgh, and ex-
pect to make my last dollar here also. I do not know
any form of philanthropy so beneficial as this : there is
no charity in it. I have hoarded nothing, and shall not
die rich apart from my interest in the business. Unless
the Pittsburgh works are prosperous I shall have

^

74 ANDREW CARNEGIE

nothing. I have put all my eggs in one basket right
,;here, and I have the satisfaction of knowing that the
first charge on every dollar of my capital is the pay-
ment of the highest earnings paid for labor in any part
of the world for similar services. Upon that record I
stand."

Conflicts with Labor

CHAPTER VI

CONFLICTS WITH LABOR

LABOR, capital and business ability are the three ?
legs of a three-legged stool. Neither the first,
the second nor the third has any preference, all being
equally necessary. He who would sow discord among
the three is the enemy of all." Thus spoke Andrew
Carnegie to an interviewer in March, 1901. From
time to time he has written freely on the labor ques-
tion, especially in reference to strikes and trade unions.
In 1886 he said: "My experience has been that trade
unions upon the whole are beneficial both to labor
and capital. They certainly educate the working-
man, and give him a truer conception of the relations
of capital and labor than he could otherwise form. I
recognize in trade unions, or, better still, in organiza-
tions of the men of each establishment, who select
representatives to speak for them, a means not of
further embittering the relations between employer
and employed, but of improving them."

Mr. Carnegie thinks that the individual labor organ-
ization is the most useful to the workman — ^that is,
each works or groups of works to have their own union
which shall be thoroughly cognizant with conditions

77

78 ANDREW CARNEGIE

in its own mill. He does not extend the same approval
to the ordinary types of labor organization, nor does he
agree with all the principles on which they are founded.
When asked whether or not there was in the States
an organization known as the "Knights of Labor,"
which is a similar body to the English trade unions, he
replied: "Say rather we had. It was one of those
ephemeral organizations that go up like a rocket and
come down like a stick. It was founded upon false
principles, viz., that they could combine common or
unskilled labor with skilled." He holds that the
man who is doubly as efficient as another should
receive twice as much remimeration, and he continues :
"If we are not to recognize that one man has brains or
ability beyond another, why should a man of superior
parts try to do his best?"

Mr. Carnegie would not tolerate any organization
among his work-people that propagated such mis-
chievous principles, and his firm stand on this question
was, perhaps, the chief contributing factor to his first
dispute with his men. This occurred at his Braddock
steel works. It appears that Mr. Carnegie came to
certain terms with his employees which, when embodied
in an agreement, the men's leaders refused to sign,
incited thereto by the union agitators, at whom the
agreement was expressly aimed. The principal feature
of the agreement was a substitution of the sliding-

CONFLICTS WITH LABOR 79

scale plan of wage-earning for the usual unchanging
method. The sliding scale made the workman prac-
tically a partner with the company : he either profited
or lost with the company. Another feature of the new
contract was the abolishment of the eight-hour day —
that is, three shifts instead of two to each twenty-four
hours. The eight-hour plan was found to be tmprofit-
able and a sliding scale at a twelve-hour schedule
was proposed as a substitute. The men were also
required to sign a cast-iron agreement promising to
abide by the contract for a certain number of years.

These documents were put before the men at the end
of the year 1887. During that year it was estimated
that Mr. Carnegie had made a profit of $15,000,000.
The men refused to agree to the terms set before
them, and the works were immediately shut down.
No work meant no food, no fuel, no clothes, for
everything and everybody in Braddock depended
on the mills. All efforts toward compromise on the
part of the men were instantly rejected, but no effort
was made to replace the locked-out men with outsiders.
The men held out from December to April. After
unsuccessfully attempting to obtain a settlement on
their own lines, the workmen decided to give way, and
their leaders waited on Mr. Carnegie with the necessary
authority to come to terms, but with the intention of
making a nominal surrender only, and not binding

8o ANDREW CARNEGIE

themselves personally to the agreement. Mr. Carnegie
took the deputation to dinner, joked with them, and
then produced the new contracts for their acceptance.
The leaders asked if they might be allowed to sign as
representatives of the union. "Certainly,'* said Mr.
Carnegie, *'you can sign as you please." They signed
without hesitation, congratulating themselves on their
smartness. **Now," said Mr. Carnegie, ''as I have
obliged you by letting you sign as you please, would
you oblige me by signing in your individual capacity
as well?'* "Begorrah," said the agitator, "begorrah,
the game's up." And it was. They attached their
signatures a second time, and the strike was ended.

That is Mr. Carnegie's version of the affair, which,
of course, has another aspect when described by the
workmen. It was said that the men resumed work on
a pledge, given by Mr. Carnegie's manager, that the
men thrown out of work by the two-shift instead of the
three-shift system would be foimd employment in the
other mills of the company, and that a general amnesty
would be granted to all who had taken part in the
strike. This pledge, some of the men say, was broken.
But there is no evidence that any such pledge was
actually given. As a matter of fact, the sliding scale
instituted at Braddock has proved uniformly satisfac-
tory to both the workmen and the company, and the
plan has been extended to other places.

CONFLICTS WITH LABOR 8i

The second and last dispute that the Carnegie firm
had with its employees was at the Homestead works,
over which Mr. Frick, the manager, had supreme con-
trol. Owing to the atrocious methods by which the
conflict was conducted on both sides, this strike at
Homestead caused a sensation throughout the civilized
world. As usual there is much contradiction of facts
by the parties concerned, and great confusion as to the
circumstances of the dispute. The following events are
gathered from accounts which were current at the
time.

On July I, 1889, the firm made a three-year con-
tract with a number of skilled workmen, through
the medium of . the Amalgamated Iron and Steel
Workers' Association, to pay them at the rate of
twenty-five dollars per ton for a certain product of
Bessemer steel. At the beginning of Jime, 1892, Mr.
Frick announced that the rate in future would be
twenty-two dollars per ton, which he eventually raised
to twenty-three dollars, but the men held firm for
twenty-four dollars. Mr. Frick further notified them
that henceforth the contracts would terminate in mid-
winter instead of midsummer. The men objected to
this because it placed them at a disadvantage.

Negotiations were broken off on June 24th and
the mills were shut down on the 30th. Then began
a series of heart-rending episodes. Mr. Frick, with

82 ANDREW CARNEGIE

an "intelligent anticipation of events,'* had taken
precautionary measures while the negotiations were in
progress. He resolved to keep the works going by
non-unionist workmen, and to protect these he had
engaged three hundred Pinkerton detectives, and had
also surrounded the works with fences and trenches
until they resembled a military fort. It was reported
at the time that along the top of the fence, which was
twelve feet high, a barbed wire was laid, which was
nicknamed the ''live wire fence" because it was
charged with a degree of electricity sufficiently strong
to kill any one who touched it. But this was abso-
lutely disproved later. On the other hand, it was
stated that the men deliberately attempted to murder
all the non-union workmen by poisoning their food
as it was being prepared in the kitchens.

Immediately the negotiations in progress between
the two parties were ended, the men stationed guards at
all the entrances to the mills. The river, the streets
and the roads entering the town were also closely
patrolled, and a rigid surveillance was exercised over
all visitors. During the disturbance great damage
was done to the mills of the company and to public
property in the town. Frick now thought it was
high time to use his police force and attempt the
importation of foreign labor. It was arranged that the
detectives should proceed to Homestead by the river,

CONFLICTS WITH LABOR 83

and arrive there about midnight, when it was hoped
they would be able to enter the works unobserved.

At two o'clock on the morning of July 6, three hundred
detectives, accompanied by the deputy-sheriff of the
district, embarked on a steamer and two barges and
left Pittsburgh for Homestead. On their arrival they
found the river banks lined with thousands of men,
women, and even children. Many of the men were
armed with revolvers and clubs, while the Pinkerton
detectives had their Winchester rifles. A short war of
words was followed by an attempt of the boating party
to land. This was resisted by the frenzied workmen,
shots were exchanged, and fighting soon became
general. Another determined sortie was made by a
body of fifty Pinkertons under cover of the rifle fire
from their companions, but they met with such a hot
reception that they were compelled to retreat.

The strikers now erected a fort on which they
mounted a small piece of artillery and opened fire with
it upon the barges. They also endeavored to set fire
to the barges by pouring petroletmi in the river, but
an unfavorable wind rendered their efforts unsuc-
cessful. The steamer, with the deputy-sheriff and
the wounded men on board, got adrift from the two
barges, and, running the gantlet of a heavy fire,
returned to Pittsburgh. At 5 P. m. on the following day
the Pinkertons surrendered on condition that if they

84 ANDREW CARNEGIE

gave up their arms they would be guaranteed a safe
conduct. Notwithstanding this guarantee, they were
brutally assaulted as they passed through the town,
and many were seriously injured. The casualties of
the whole conflict amounted to six workmen killed
and eighteen woimded, nine Pinkertons killed and
twenty-one woimded, and a hundred Pinkertons
severely mutilated after their surrender.

On learning of the fight, the Governor of the State
sent down a force of 8,000 militia, who occupied the
works. Rioting, however, continued for a time. On
July 23 Mr. Prick was assaulted by a Russian who was
admitted to his office on a pretense of business. The
loss to the company through the works remaining idle
was $50,000 daily, apart from the expense of $20,000
daily for the maintenance of the militia.

A commission was appointed by Congress to institute
a thorough inquiry into the whole event, and their
report roundly censured every one concerned, but
especially Mr. Prick, at whose door it practically laid
the entire responsibility for the conflict. It said:
*' Mr. Prick seems to have been too stem, brusque, and
somewhat autocratic, of which some of the men justly
complain. We are persuaded that, if he had chosen,
an agreement would have been reached between him
and the workmen, and all the trouble which followed
would have been avoided."

CONFLICTS WITH LABOR 85

Professor Bemis, a high authority on industrial prob-
lems, and a man universally respected, published an
article on the strike which was distinguished by a
judicial spirit of impartiality and moderation. He
severely condemned the attitude and policy of Mr.
Frick, and stated that O'Donnell, the men's repre-
sentative, made every effort to promote an amicable
settlement, and when the negotiations were broken off
by Mr. Frick he pleaded for a reopening of the discus-
sion, stating clearly that he believed terms would
eventually be agreed upon. But Mr. Frick was obdu-
rate : he had set himself to smash trade unionism.

Attempts were made by the men's leaders to com-
municate with Mr. Carnegie. Professor Bemis states
that O'Donnell applied to Frick for Mr. Carnegie's
address in Scotland, which was known only to his
business associates. Mr. Frick refused to give the
address, whereupon it was obtained from the American
Consul in London. The men's terms of settlement
were then cabled to Mr. Carnegie, who approved of
them and urged an immediate consultation with Frick.
Mr. Frick, however, refused to consider the matter at
all, and declared that if Carnegie came in person, in
company with President Harrison and the entire
Cabinet, he would not settle the strike. Mr. Carnegie,
in his reply, guarded himself by saying that he had no
power to instruct anybody connected with the Carnegie

86 ANDREW CARNEGIE

Steel Company. **The officers," he wrote, "are
elected for a year, and no one can interfere with them.
As for instructing them or compelling them under law
to do one thing or another, that is simply an absurd
suggestion. I could not if I would, and I would not if
I could." This restricted authority is involved in his
system of management by partners.

A very different complexion is, however, put upon
the outbreak at Homestead by the following summary
of events, which is vouched for on the best authority,
and which contradicts the personal attacks upon Mr.
Carnegie. The issue between the firm and 267 union
men, out of 3,000 men employed, was that these
malcontents demanded an advance equal to sixty
per cent, on the scale, when they were already
earning from $10 to $13 per day of eight hours.
The firm offered to meet them half way. New
machinery, erected at a cost of $4,000,000, had
increased the output sixty per cent., and this the firm
offered to divide with its union men. When Mr.
Carnegie looked into the matter he pronotmced it
the most generous offer that had ever been made to
employees, as the labor was not harder with the new
machinery than with the old.

The firm started the works when the few tmion men
struck, at the wish of the 2,700 others, who offered to
work the mills without the union men. It was these

CONFLICTS WITH LABOR 87

latter who, armed with guns and pistols, shot down the
police, and so provoked reprisals.

It was the general opinion that if the "little boss,"
as Mr. Carnegie was called by his men, had been present,
the whole matter would have been peacefully settled;
but as he was not there it is absurd to charge him with
neglect. He did not even hear of it until the works
had started. Mr.- Frick, as president, with a board of
directors, had been in full control, and the works
were running under the protection of the troops of
Pennsylvania ; the State had the matter in charge.

The chairman of the union publicly stated that in
the eyes of the men the trouble never would have hap-
pened if Mr. Carnegie had been at home. After it had
arisen a committee of workmen wired to Mr. Carnegie :
*' Kind master, tell us what you want us to do and we
will do it"; but the riot had occurred before this
telegram had reached him, and had rendered him
powerless in the matter.

In the course of his brilliant business career Mr.
Carnegie has not had any acute differences with his
work-people.

On his return to Pittsburgh in January, 1893, he
addressed his employees at Homestead, in the course
of his speech saying: *' I have not come to Pittsburgh
to rake up, but to bury the past. It should be ban-
ished as a horrid dream, but the lessons it teaches

88 ANDREW CARNEGIE

should be laid to heart for future application. For
twenty-six years our concerns have met with only one
labor stoppage. I trust and believe that this record
will be equaled in the next twenty-five years. When
employer and employed become antagonistic their
antagonism can only be described as a contest between
twin brothers. No genuine victory is possible for
either side, only the defeat of both." On all occasions
he has emphatically denounced labor disputes, but
he does not confine his sympathies entirely to the
employers. The following paragraph shows that he is
capable of looking at matters sympathetically from
the men's standpoint. "When public sentiment has
rightly and immistakably condemned violence, even in
the form of which there is the most excuse, I would
have the public give due consideration to the terrible
temptation to which the workingman on strike is some-
times subjected. To expect that one dependent upon
his daily wage for the necessities of life will stand by
peaceably and see a new man employed in his stead is
to expect much. This poor man may have a wife and
children dependent upon his labor. Whether medi-
cine for a sick child, or even nourishing food for a
delicate wife is procurable, depends upon his steady
employment. In all but a few departments of labor
it is unnecessary and, I think, improper to subject men
to such an ordeal." He thinks that neither the best

CONFLICTS WITH LABOR 89

men as men nor the best men as workers are thus to
be obtained.

Mr. Carnegie has also detailed a number of sugges-
tions for the peaceful settlement of all differences
between capital and labor. His main solution of this
exceedingly difficult problem is arbitration, work to be
continued tmder old conditions until the arbitrators
come to a decision. But he does not state whether
arbitration should be compulsory, and thereby he
shrinks from grappling with the real difficulty of the
situation.

His Political Faith

CHAPTER VII

HIS POLITICAL FAITH

PERHAPS Mr. CamegiC'S most striking charac-
teristic is his absolute independence, and in
nothing is this more evident than in his political faith.
He brings to any subject a vast experience of the world,
a shrewd intellect and a forceful will, and irrespective
of all other views strikes out his line of thought.
Authorities are nothing to him: he totally disregards
them; and with a bold originality, that in some
instances is almost staggering, he judges a question
entirely on its merits as it appeals to his own mind.
He pierces the very heart of things, strips a question of
all superfluities, and concentrates all his energy on
absolute essentials, impatiently brushing to one side all
the flummery and fancy work that weave themselves
aro\md political issues. Opportunism is abhorrent to
him, and he heartily detests the art of "sitting on the
fence." The views of such a man are well worthy of
critical consideration.

The salient feature of Mr. Carnegie's politics is his
passionate devotion to republican government such as
is embodied in the Constitution of the United States.

93

94 ANDREW CARNEGIE

In his book, "Triumphant Democracy,'* and in many
magazine articles and interviews, he lauds the glories of
American democracy. It is his fetish, and he is an
ardent worshiper at its shrine. His views, therefore,
on this subject, an English writer says, ''are scarcely
likely to be well balanced, and, indeed, they resemble
more the rhapsodies of an enthusiast than the judg-
ment of a cool, experienced man of the world." The
same writer quotes this instance " as an outburst of one-
sided sentiment" : — "Ah, favored land ! the best of the
old world seek your shores to swell to still greater pro-
portions your assured greatness. That all come only
for the material benefits you confer I do not believe.
Crowning these material considerations, I insist that
the more intelligent of these people feel the spirit of
true manhood stirring within them, and glory in the
thought that they are to become part of a powerful
people, of a government founded upon the bom equality
of man, free from military despotism and class distinc-
tions; 117,000 came last month, and the cry is still
they come ! Oh, ye self -constituted rulers of men in
Europe, know you not that the knell of dynasties and
of rank is sounding ? Are you so deaf that you do not
hear the thunders, so blind that you do not see the
lightnings which now and then give warning of the
storm that is to precede the reign of the people?"
But though in some directions Mr. Carnegie allows

HIS POLITICAL FAITH 95

himself to go to extremes, in the main his republican-
ism represents a robust and healthy confidence in an
untrammeled democracy. He is a fierce opponent of
rank and class distinctions, and he holds in supreme
contempt the privileged classes who live a life of selfish
luxury, contributing nothing by forced industry or
volimtary service to the welfare of society. But lie
is far from being a socialist, whom he describes as
a balloon farmer "wanting to jump to the moon in
one bound." His ideal is a government of the people,
by the people, for the people.

The House of Lords is to him a monstrosity that
ought not to be tolerated for one moment. He holds
that its members are drawn from the most incompetent
sections of the nation, and that as a whole they are
totally unfit to perform legislative functions. He
considers that titles have a blighting influence on any
one's individuality, and he illustrates his meaning by
contrasting the probable places in history of Mr.
Gladstone, Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Salisbury. '*I
have always regarded him (Lord Salisbury) as a strik-
ing instance of the advantage of not being born to
hereditary wealth and position. Like the great
foimder of the Cecils, Lord Salisbury himself was bom
a commoner ; a younger son with a younger son's por-
tion, and with the promptings of decided ability in him,
he did ever3rthing in his power to prevent being nar-

96 ANDREW CARNEGIE

rowed and restricted by the smothering robes of rank
and wealth. His country's law forces him to sink
his individuality in a peerage, but for which England
might have told of a first and second Cecil, as it
tells of a first and second Pitt — men too great to be
obliterated as men by any title. It is a sad descent
in historical rank from 'Cecil' to the Marquis of any-
thing.

**The highest title that a man can write upon the
page of history is his own name. Mr. Gladstone's will
be there; Gladstone he is; Gladstone he will remain,
even if he tried to make future generations lose his
commanding personality in the 'Dukedom of Clydes-
dale,' or any other title whatever. But who among his
contemporaries in public life is to stand this supreme
test of masterdom? 'Disraeli' promised well for a
time, but he fades rapidly into ' Beaconsfield ' — a
shadow of a name. The title proves greater than the
man."

Mr. Carnegie is an out-and-out radical, and strongly
in favor of drastic social reform. But his enthusiasm
for Disestablishment, One Man One Vote, Peasant
Ownership of Land, etc., is submerged in his passionate
antagonism to the principle of monarchical govern-
ment. "Were I in public life in Great Britain," he
writes, "I should be ashamed to waste my energies
against the House of Lords, Church and State, primo-

HIS POLITICAL FAITH 97

geniture and entail, and all the other branches of the
monstrous system; I should strike boldly at the royal
family, the root of the upas tree from which springs all
these wrongs.**

At one time it was nmiored that he intended
to enter the British Pariiament. That was when
Messrs. Bright, Chamberiain, Dilke and Labouchere
were fighting hard in the vanguard of extreme
radicalism. They had Mr. Carnegie's fullest sympathy
and support, and he entertained high hopes that the
dawn of republicanism for England was at hand. He
was on terms of friendship with all the lights of liberal-
ism in its palmiest days. For Mr. John Morley, and
above all for Mr. Gladstone, he had the profoundest
respect and admiration, and he regarded Mr. Chamber-
lain as the coming leader of Democracy and future
Prime Minister of England.

He gave expression to this opinion in plain terms in
1885, when he presented copies of Scribner's Statistical
Atlas of the United States, showing by graphic methods
its political, social, and industrial development.

There is a significance about this incident which it
is interesting to recall at the present jimcture in
English politics, but this does not mean that these
views are still held by Mr. Carnegie, who does not
now regard the monarchy as a rival to popular self-
government.

98 ANDREW CARNEGIE

On a blank page of one atlas he wrote :

''Presented to
THE FREE LIBRARY OF BIRMINGHAM

BY

ANDREW CARNEGIE

Newport, June g, 1885.

"Let the men of Birmingham note what
their kin beyond the sea are doing under
Republican institutions founded upon the
equality of the Citizen — a land where
throne and aristocracy are alike unknown.

A. C."

The other atlas he inscribed as follows :

"To
JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN

The leader of the masses and future Premier
of Britain, I send this record of the reign
of the people under institutions based upon
the only true doctrine, the political equality
of the Citizen.

Andrew Carnegie.
"New York, November 18, 1885.''

Foiir years afterwards Mr. Chamberlain presented
this interesting document as a companion copy to
the Birmingham Free Library. A printed slip an-
nouncing the gift was placed inside the atlas for the
guidance and instruction of readers.

HIS POLITICAL FAITH 99

Of English M. P.'s as a whole Mr. Carnegie has no
flattering opinion. He thinks they are sadly lacking in
steadfastness, thoroughness and courage. "So many
public men in England 'stoop to conquer,' forgetting
that whatever else they may conquer thereafter they
can never conquer that * stoop ' which drags down their
life." And in another place he scoffs at their timidity.
"English politicians are mostly nibblers, small morsels
at a time, though Gladstone can take a good bite when
put to it."

Mr. Carnegie applies one principle for the United
States and an altogether different one for Great Britain,
because the one had to create manufactures and the
other had them. Take the tariff question. For
America he is an out-and-out Protectionist ; for England
he is an out-and-out Free Trader. His arguments
in favor of Free Trade for England can be readily
agreed with, but the reasons he originally gave for his
support of a protective tariff for America have long
ago disappeared. He maintained that heavy import
duties were necessary in order to enable the American
manufacturer to hold the home market against the
foreigner, and he considered his own industries of
iron and steel especially needed this assistance. But
to this view he added the important qualification that
he was not in favor of protection beyond the point
necessary to allow America to retain her home market

100 ANDREW CARNEGIE

in a fair contest with the foreigner. For the last five
years at least the conditions have been exactly the
reverse of those put forward by Mr. Carnegie as justify-
ing the McKinley Tariff. Mr. Carnegie, however,
though he has not made any appeal for the abolition
of the protective duty, has twice advised reductions
which were made, and he is in favor of further reduc-
tions now. He has been consistent always in this
matter, and offended his party, advocating protection
only as a path to free trade.

The keynote of one of his most vigorous articles,
''What Would I Do with the Tariff if I were Czar?"
is the taxing of luxuries, the imported articles the rich
consider indispensable and can afford to pay for; on
the necessaries of life he would reduce the tariff corre-
spondingly.

Protection or no protection, Andrew Carnegie's
genius was bound to lift him to a high position. Much
more absurd and much more venomous is the insinua-
tion, at one time freely made in the States, that his
influential support of the Republican party was bought
at the price of its adhesion to the McKinley Tariff
Bill. That he should be attacked in this way is, per-
haps, the natural consequence of his prominence in the
political arena. Protection, however, was by no means
the subject to which he gave most attention. He
attached far more importance to the Silver Question,

HIS POLITICAL FAITH loi

on which he was one of Mr. Bryan's most formidable
antagonists.

Reverting to his interest in British politics, it is
interesting to note that, despite his admiration for
Mr. Gladstone and his devotion to Mr. Morley, he
could not accept unqualified their Irish policy. He was
in favor of simply giving Ireland the fullest measure of
local self-government, and making her status in the
Empire the same as that of a Federal State in the
American Union.

A dominating factor in Mr. Camegie*s politics is his
love of peace. His hatred and abhorrence of war
amounted almost to a passion. In 1881 he said that to
him the real glory of America lay in the fact that she
had no army worth the name, and that her navy could
boast of scarcely a single efficient warship. **What
has America to do," he writes, "following in the wake
of brutal, pugilistic nations still under the influence of
feudal institutions, who exhaust their revenues training
men how best to butcher their fellows, and in build-
ing ships for purposes of destruction." He has de-
nounced in emphatic terms both the Philippine and
South African conflicts as unjust and foolish in the
extreme, and he bitterly laments what he considers to
be this hateful* relapse of the English-speaking race
from its great ideals of peace and freedom. Lifelong
Republican though he has been, his feelings on the

I02 ANDREW CARNEGIE

war policy were so strong that he severed his allegiance
to the Government and ranged himself alongside the
Bryanites, to whom he was opposed on every other
public question. No one who does not know the excep-
tional strength of party ties and party loyalty that
exist in the United States can understand how keenly
such a staunch party man as Andrew Carnegie must
have felt this separation from old friends and associa-
tions. But holding the views that he did he felt boimd
to give expression to them. He believed that America
was entering upon a policy of imperial expansion and
colonial dominion that would lead to a policy of mili-
tarism and aggression. Vigorously and vehemently
he attacked the Government, and bitterly denounced
what he considered its fatal departure from the tradi-
tional policy of the nation. He advises both America
and Britain to leave the blacks to look after themselves,
a sentiment admirably suited for theoretical discussion,
but when applied for practical purposes it resolves itself
into an utter and impossible neglect of duty.

In his political controversies Mr. Carnegie often
indulges in prophecies, and one thing he predicted
twenty years ago was the decay of Parliament and
pulpit and the rise of the newspaper and the review.
*' The brain of a cotmtry,*' he says, "will be foimd where
the real work is to be done. The House of Lords regis-
ters the decrees of the House of Commons. The House

HIS POLITICAL FAITH 103

of Commons is soon to register the decree of the monthly
magazines. In the next generation the debates of
Parliament will affect the political currents of the age as
little as the fulminations of the pulpit affect religious
thought at present. The press is the imiversal parlia-
ment. The leaders in that forum make your statesmen
dance as they pipe. If any man wants bona fide sub-
stantial power and influence in this world, he must
handle the pen — ^that's flat. Truly it is a nobler
weapon than the sword and the tongue, both of which
have nearly had their day."

At one time Mr. Carnegie entertained the idea of
covering England with a network of Radical news-
papers, through which he could impress the masses
with his political views. He acquired no less than
eighteen organs of the press, but he does not seem to
have entered on the work with his usual thoroughness
and determination ; and although he managed to make
a commercial success of the scheme, its political results
did not realize expectations.

In regard to religious matters Mr. Carnegie takes up
an independent position. He is emphatically not an
agnostic. He believes in Christianity and in the
goodness of God, but his great human spirit is not to be
bound by the formulas of sects and creeds. He tells
a very amusing anecdote of an incident that happened
when he was traveling in China. He essayed his

r^

I04 ANDREW CARNEGIE

powers as a missionary on one of the subjects of the
Celestial Empire, and the result was not very encourag-
ing for him. He relates the story as follows: ''One
day I asked our guide, Ah Cum, a gentleman and a
scholar, why he did not embrace Christianity. His
eyes twinkled as he replied, 'Where goee, eh? Goee
Bishopee ? ' (pointing to the Cathedral). * He say allee
rightee. Goee there ?' (pointing to the English church).
* Bishopee say damee. Goee Hopper?' (the American
Presbyterian missionary). 'He sayee Bishop churchee
no goodee, hellee firee. What I doee, eh?' 'Stay
where you are, you rogue,'" replied Mr. Carnegie, and
he adds, "Confound that fellow, I did not expect to be
picked up in that manner." Mr. Carnegie thinks it is
useless to preach to the heathen one God and half a
dozen creeds. He considers that to-day the pulpit
exercises very little influence on the life of the world.
He thinks that its sentiments are practically ignored
by men of action and work. "Who cares," he says,
"what the Rev. Mr. Froth preaches when he ventures
beyond the homilies." He describes the parson to
suit him to be one who says little and does much. He
has, however, very great faith in the refining and
elevating influence of music, which he speaks of as
heaven's chief mediimi.

We have seen that Mr. Carnegie is an optimist of the
optimists. The progress of the world and the advance

HIS POLITICAL FAITH 105

of the English-speaking race are to him as inevitable
as that night should follow day, and his faith shines
steady and clear through all discouragement. " God's
in His heaven, all's right with the world," aptly de-
scribes his view of the many mysteries of human life.
The following quotation gives one an insight into the
standpoint from which he looks out on things: "It
is a criminal waste of time and thought to dwell much
upon what is to come in the far unknown future. I
am an evolutionist. My teacher is Herbert Spencer.
It is impossible to set bounds to what the human race
can do, or what it may become, physically, mentally,
or socially. . . . We are all traveling in the
same direction, and finally, I believe, to heaven.**

And now we come to the political project which is
dearer to Mr. Carnegie than anything else, and to
accomplish which he would gladly sacrifice his fortune.
Mr. Gladstone once described Mr. Carnegie as so inter-
woven in his interests between America and England
that he formed a living link between them. The one
supreme desire of Mr. Carnegie is to weave together the
interests of the two nations and form them into one
vast confederacy. He is an enthusiastic advocate of
the Federation of English-speaking peoples, and he
is very sanguine about the possibilities of its achieve-
ment, believing that the idea would be heartily wel-
comed by the vast majority of the people of the United

io6 ANDREW CARNEGIE

States, and that it would command the enthusiastic
support of the colonies. The mother country alone,
he thinks, is lukewarm in the matter. It is only in
political ideas, he points out, that there is any dissimi-
larity. In language, literature, religion and law we are
a united race. Britain, he maintains, has everything
to gain by amalgamation of interests. Her produce
would enter the world's finest market — ^the United
States — free of duty, and the accession of strength
she would acquire by reunion wotdd relieve her from
all fear of European combinations. If England
holds back on this vital question, he predicts her
downfall from her present proud position as head of the
Anglo-Saxon race. **The only cotirse for Britain seems
to me to be reunion with her giant child, or sure decline
to a secondary place, and then comparative insignifi-
cance in the future annals of the English-speaking
race."

He looks upon this reunion as the one great hope
for the peace and progress of the world. He claims
that the welfare of humanity imperatively calls for the
consolidation of Anglo-American power. Such a fed-
eration would be invincible both in the arts of peace
and of war, for it would combine the control of the
premier financial and manufacturing resources, with
the possession of the finest human material on earth.
Its supremacy would be incontestable and would com-

HIS POLITICAL FAITH 107

mand universal respect. By reason of its power it
could set itself up as the arbiter of the world's disputes.
The enormous waste of expenditure in maintaining
bloated armaments would be stopped, and never again
would legalized slaughter of man dishonor the human
race.

But is this noble aspiration of Mr. Carnegie's any-
thing more than a castle in the air, and is any progress
being made toward its realization? What has he to
put forward against the thousand and one practical
objections with which his ideal could easily be riddled ?
First and foremost he sets forth the exigencies of com-
merce and the blood affinity of the two peoples — the
mightiest forces for reimion that could possibly be
imagined. In addition to this, Mr. Carnegie regards
the abridgment of distance as a favorable factor of
much importance. The telegraph and the steamboat
have greatly facilitated the means of intercommunica-
tion and intervisitation, and travel nowadays is
attended with every comfort and luxury. Never was
there a time when so many Englishmen and Americans
intervisited so often between the two countries. And
Mr. Carnegie claims that the stanchest supporters
of reunion, and those who are most convinced of its
practicability, are to be found among those who have
most frequently crossed the "pond" and come into
contact with both peoples. The more extensive their

io8 ANDREW CARNEGIE

knowledge and their travel, the more confirmed are
they in their faith. In social life the greatest cor-
diality exists between the constituents of the two
nations, while the masses of both seize every oppor-
tunity to express publicly their enthusiasm for the
project. 'Xet men say what they will, therefore,"
Mr. Carnegie concludes, "I say that as surely as the
sun in the heavens once shone upon Britain and
America united, so surely it is one morning to rise,
shine upon and greet again "The Re-United States,"
"The British- American Union/'

International Competition

CHAPTER VIII

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

THE race for commercial supremacy between the
old and the new world is now the all-engrossing
question of the hour. The last generation has wit-
nessed a remarkable change in the rapid advance which
the traders of the West have made upon the markets of
the world. The development of the United States
as a trade competitor with European countries is the
most conspicuous landmark in the commercial history
of the nineteenth century. Supported by unlimited
natural resources, it has made enormous strides as a
manufacturing country. Its citizens, buoyant with
youthful energy and ambition, have utilized to the full
every advantage within their power. Armed with
the latest weapons they have successfully attacked
foreign markets, and to-day American manufacturers
hold a strong position in almost every commercial
comer in the world. This wonderful progress has
been due to several causes, prominent among which
are its enormous mineral wealth, cheap locomotion,
protectionist duties, a dogged enterprise, and an
inherent commercial skill.

Ill

112 ANDREW CARNEGIE

No American has made such an impress upon the
trade of the worid as Andrew Carnegie. The greatest
iron and steel producer, he has led the American attack
on all the markets in its most important sphere, namely,
the region of i:on and steel manufacture. The pros-
perity of a manufacturing coimtry is to be measured
in the main by the prosperity of its iron and steel
industries, and it is in this realm of industry that
Andrew Carnegie has earned his title of King. His
ability to deliver promptly owing to his skilfully
equipped works, and the low price he could accept
as a result of having at his elbow cheap material and
quick facilities for production, gave him an immense
advantage over his competitors. He conducted his
business on a large scale, fully confident of securing a
fair share of the world's patronage. His strong faith
told him to cast his net, and he obeyed. The harvest
he has brought safely to land is now the admira-
tion of the whole world. Having won a great industrial
victory, Mr. Carnegie should be in an authoritative
position to speak upon the present state of trade and
the commercial prospects of the old and new worlds.
His innate sense of justice, his well balanced intellect
and his wide experience entitle his views to careful
consideration.

Although a Scotchman by birth, hard-headed, thrifty
and industrious, Mr. Carnegie is by training a typical

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 113

American. He has won his fortune in the land of
big things, and it is only natural he should have a
very high opinion of America's industrial resources
and commercial future. He considers the United
States in many respects far ahead of Great Britain, and
holds that really the mother country will have to bestir
itself if it is even to occupy a second place on the list.
**The Briton has now," he says, *'to meet in industrial
rivalry men of his own blood ; what is more, men of his
own blood developed under more favorable circimi-
stances." But although he considers the American
workman "the ablest, quickest and most versatile
worker the world has ever seen," he at the same time
believes the old country will yet make a gallant struggle,
especially if she will change her methods and show
more enterprise. America has the great advantage
that "whereas her resources have only been scratched,
as it were, the raw materials of the old coimtry are
rapidly being worked out."

Probably very few Britons will agree with his gloomy
view of the future, when he pictures their islands as
the ancestral home and the garden and pleasure-groimd
of the race. This elysium is to come into existence
when "British manufactures have gone one by one,"
and when, as a nation, "we shall not be able to support
a population of more than fifteen millions."

He contributed a practical and stable article to the

114 ANDREW CARNEGIE

pages of the Nineteenth Century and After review for
June, 1 90 1, and one which, although somewhat un-
palatable to the imperialistic taste, contained much
food for thought. The article was couched in a more
optimistic strain, and made a bold attack on ''British
Pessimism," which he was surprised to find had
obtained such a strong hold on English industrial life.
Although he has visited his native land for thirty years
or more, he could not recollect having met with such a
state of despondency amongst the leaders of British
industries. But continuing, he immediately strikes a
cheerful note, and says that "though your monopoly
has gone your supremacy has not ; that so far there is
no actual retrogression or inherent decay."

Mr, Carnegie is of the opinion that England's legis-
lators would spend their time more profitably if they
paid more attention to commercial affairs and less to
political wrangling. He argues that "a profitable
home market is the strongest weapon that can be used
to conquer markets abroad." The qualities of the
race, he says, "lie dormant, and are still there; the
dogged endurance, the ambition to excel, the will to
do or die, are all there, but it has not been found
necessary to drill them into disciplined action."

Not until British manufacturers are face to face with
ruin, and are compelled for lack of work to close their
mills, does Mr. Carnegie think they will rouse them-

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 115

selves from their lethargy bom of custom and
monopoly. When this hour arrives he little doubts
that they will rise to the occasion and manifest to the
worid their true qualities ; but by that time he is very
much afraid the financial burdens of the coimtry will
be so heavy that they will be imable to make up their
lost ground. He regards with misgiving "the aggres-
sive temper which has alienated other governments
and peoples, and mistaken territorial acquisition for
genuine empire building." This dangerous growth,
he maintains, will not only largely increase the nation's
financial burdens, but will deprive it of its productive
capacity and decrease its volume of trade. If ever a
nation had a clear and unmistakable warning that the
time had arrived when it should henceforth measure
its responsibilities and ambitions throughout the world
with its resources, and cut its garment according to
its cloth, Mr. Carnegie thinks, it is /'the dear old mother-
land of the race, with its trade stationary and an army
of thirty thousand men or more to be provided for in
South Africa even after peace comes ; its expenditures
and taxation increasing, and its promises to pay already
at such a discoimt as to attract capital from acrgss the
Atlantic."

He has often pointed out that in the United States
and Germany the controlling factor of diplomacy is
the expansion of trade. Mr. Carnegie looks at this

ii6 ANDREW CARNEGIE

question in the dry light of hard business experience,
and the test he applies to the policy of Great Britain
is — "Does it pay?" This test may seem harshly
materialistic, but this is a materialistic world, and how-
ever glorious may be her traditions, however extensive
may be her empire, however powerful may be her
army and navy, if Great Britain loses her trade these
things cannot prevent her downfall. To-day com-
merce is the life-blood of a nation, and should be
regarded as its paramount consideration. This fact
has been lost sight of in the territorial expansion of
Great Britain. They go to an enormous expense in
opening up vast territories and in conquering subject
races, but they receive no corresponding compensation
under their policy of free trade which gives the German
and American equal commercial opportunities with
themselves. They acquire shadowy supremacy with-
out any material benefits. ''Trade does not follow the
flag/* Mr. Carnegie argues; ''it follows the lowest price
current y

The gist of his argument is that Great Britain should
have a Minister of Commerce, whose special work
would be to protect the interests of British traders,
and utilize to the full for commercial purposes their
world-wide possessions. This office will no doubt be
created when international competition has captured
more of their markets abroad.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 117

Foreign trade has not such a strong fascination
for Mr. Carnegie as may be supposed. He told the
Institute of Civil Engineers, in May, 1901, "You must
look at home, and develop the material you have
there. The way to get hold of foreign markets is to
get hold of and conquer the markets at home."

Commercial supremacy and commercial education
are indissolubly linked together, and when we turn to
examine Mr. Carnegie's views on education we find
much that is worthy of notice. We have already
mentioned his firm belief that the policy he pursued of
throwing responsibility upon young men and taking
those of exceptional ability into partnership has con-
tributed more than anything else to his success in busi-
ness. It is not the unrivaled resources of America
the English have cause to envy most, he says, nor its
wonderful machinery, but the class of yoimg men that
manage the undertakings there, and, he adds, he can
find no such class in England. The reason why
English yoimg men are not the equals, in his opinion,
to their American cousins is simply because they have
not had the same educational opportunities.

"It is a result of your system of education," he
told a representative of the Daily News Weekly. " The
universities of America do not exalt science above
classics, but they do place them upon a more equal
footing than you do. Classical subjects have received

ii8 ANDREW CARNEGIE

encouragement and have been developed, whereas
scientific education has not been. Now, I believe that
the continuance of Great Britain as one of the principal
manufacturing nations will not be secured by having
a greater number of her people learning the dead
languages of dead nations, dwelling together in the
past, but by a larger percentage of her young men
becoming experts in various branches of science, and
being taught to be scientific managers of her industries,
displacing the rule of thumb managers. It is a ques-
tion what type of a man is now needed to keep England
abreast of her competitors."

In connection with this question of trade supremacy,
the following information relating to commercial educa-
tion in America will be of interest. No less than five
of the leading colleges and universities of the United
States have given a place in their curriculum to
commercial courses or have established Schools of
Commerce. The students are given a course of teaching
comprising the most serviceable instruction in the
following subjects: bookkeeping, commercial geogra-
phy, transport systems, money and banking, busi-
ness organization and management, economics and
economic history. In addition, it is recognized that
the prospective manufacturer should be familiar with
the various processes through which the chief articles
of commerce have to pass before they reach their

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 119

finished state. This knowledge is imparted through a
course on "The Materials of Commerce," which is
illustrated as far as possible by practical experiments.
A knowledge of law is a further advantage to a business
man, and this is provided by courses on commercial
law, tariff legislation, and the laws pertaining to labor,
capital and corporations. The usual instruction in
modem languages, chemical research and physical
science is given, and students are at liberty to study
for a particular trade or for work in a foreign
country. Candidates for a degree must pass in all
these branches.

A thorough commercial education is the strongest
foundation for business success, but Mr. Carnegie
believes that another phase of knowledge is also
requisite. He says : " The study of human nature is the
best education for any business man. But whether
a young man chooses a scientific or a classical educa-
tion, if he wishes to pursue a business career he should
not remain long at college or at the university. All my
brilliant partners began hard, practical work in their
* teens. I think a course at a modem university from
nineteen to twenty-four will not teach a young fellow
to be as successful a business man as if he had been
sent into business in a subordinate capacity. This is
not disparaging university education, for I limit the
-observation to the business career."

I20 ANDREW CARNEGIE

Mr. Carnegie is, above everything else, a man of
action. He is a self-made millionaire, and has built
up his huge fortune by the power of his brain; it is
therefore only natural he should have a strong admira-
tion for those who seek practical experience and are
desirous of adding to their knowledge by contact with
hard work. He has, however, a strong faith in educa-
tion, as was so strikingly illustrated by his munificent
gifts of $250,000 to the Birmingham University,
$10,000,000 for the Scotch universities and $10,000,000
to the Carnegie Institute, and in this sphere it may be
taken for granted he will distribute a large share of his
wealth. Compared with other nations Mr. Carnegie
recognizes the backward state of technical education
in England, and if they are to retain their commercial
position he thinks it will be absolutely necessary for
them to overhaul and modernize their educational
machinery and to put it in proper and efficient working
order. To keep in the forefront of the international
trade fight will mean a stem struggle, but it can be
accomplished, he says, if Britain goes to the root of
the question and arms the rising generation with a
sound and practical education. In the letter he sent
to the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, M. P., offering
to give $250,000 to the funds of the Birmingham
University, he stated his views on commercial edu-
cation in a very plain and businesslike manner.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 121

"Dear Mr. Chamberlain: — ^You have interested
me in your proposed university at Birmingham for the
people of the Midlands.

*' May I suggest that an opportunity exists for such
an institution to perform a great service for the whole
country ?

"After the members of the Iron and Steel Institute
had returned to New York from their tour of observa-
tion through the United States, the officials dined with
me. Many pleasing short speeches were made. The
close of one I have never forgotten. A partner in one
of your foremost steel companies said: 'Mr. Carnegie,
it is not your wonderful machinery, not even your
unequaled supplies of minerals, which we have most
cause to envy. It is something worth both of these
combined — ^the class of scientific young experts you
have to manage every department of your works.
We have no corresponding class in. England,^

"Never were truer words spoken. Now this class
you must sooner or later secure if Britain is to remain
one of the principal manufacturing nations, and it
seems to me the Midlands is the very soil upon which
it can most surely be produced.

"If I were in your place I should recognize the
futility of trying to rival Oxford and Cambridge, which,
even if possible, would be useless. The twin seats of
learning have their mission, and fulfil it ; but Binning-

122 ANDREW CARNEGIE

ham should make the scientific the principal depart-
ment, the classical subsidiary. If Birmingham were
to adopt the policy suggested, taking our Cornell
University as its model, where the scientific has won
first place in the number of students, and give degrees
in science as in classics, I should be delighted to con-
tribute the last ;£5 0,000 of the sum you have set out to
raisCj to establish a scientific department.

" I am sure our people of the Birmingham across the
Atlantic will heartily approve this gift to their proto-
type on this side of the water, for what does not the
younger owe of its greatness and prosperity to the old
land. Bessemer, Siemens, Thomas — the triumvirate
through whose inventions we have been enabled to
make and sell steel by the millions of tons at three
pounds for a penny — all made their experiments in
your midst.

''Let the gift, therefore, be considered as only a
slight acknowledgment of a debt which Pittsburgh, the
greatest beneficiary of your steel inventions, can never
hope to repay.

"Wishing you speedy success,
" Sincerely yours,

"Andrew Carnegie."

The object of this broad-minded millionaire is to
place before the youth of Britain the same educational
opportunities as are enjoyed by young men in the

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 123

United States and on the Continent. If words of
warning and magnificent pecuniary assistance can rouse
his native land to make adequate preparations for com-
mercial training, he should be eminently successful.
He lays great stress on the need of giving the young
men who are to be the future captains of industry a
suitable and practical education. Much depends on
the artisan, he once said, but still more depends on the
commercial skill of the man at the wheel. Clever
managers with up-to-date methods and modern ideas
will be almost certain to secure good paying orders,
and it is this class of men he desires to see controlling
England's industries; and then he has little doubt she
will hold her own against the competition of the world.
In Mr. Carnegie's opinion England's national indus-
tries are at the present time handicapped greatly
by obsolete machinery. Their equipments, he says,
need not merely to be altered but "revolutionized."
In one of his journeys through England he came across
a tanyard in charge of which was a workman of the
extreme rural type, who informed Mr. Carnegie that his
old master had just sold out. The fresh owner had
new-fangled notions, and was spending "heaps o*
money" in building a steam-engine, which he invited
the visitor to inspect. This engine was expected to do
the work much quicker, but, remarked the old work-
man, " I've heard tell by some as knows it's na sae gud

124 ANDREW CARNEGIE

for the leather." This incident, Mr. Carnegie says,
aptly illustrates the tenacity with which Britishers
hold to what their fathers did before them. Although
somewhat exaggerated, this conclusion contains much
truth, and the ill-advised obstinacy of the British
workman and the short - sighted policy of trade
unionism is largely answerable for it. Mr. Carnegie
absolutely fought trade unionism in his own works,
when it attempted to encumber him with restrictions
and to dictate to him how he should manage his
business.

For the saner type of trade unionism, as we have
seen, he has considerable sympathy. The American
workman comes up to his ideal as the quickest and
most versatile industrial hand in the world. In sharp
contrast to his prototype in England, he is distinguished
for his habits of sobriety and thrift, and these, in Mr.
Carnegie's opinion, largely accotmt for his superiority.
England's drink bill per head of the population is
nearly fifty per cent, higher than that of the United
States, and to this marked difference he attributes
their inferiority to the Yankee in business foresight
and industrial skill.

But the faults of the working classes by no means
exonerate the masters from blame. It is, indeed, in
fertility and originality of ideas that Brother Jonathan
so easily surpasses England. They are fearfully slow,

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 125

Mr. Carnegie says, in adopting new improvements, and
pointing to electricity as a concrete instance, and
referring to the achievements of Edison, "the wizard
of science," he mentions the significant fact that a
capital of over $200,000,000 is invested in about
20,000 miles of electric railways in the United States.
England is just awakening to the value of this form of
locomotion, and so far nearly all the great electrical
undertakings in England are worked by American
capital. But where British manufacturers are most
heavily handicapped is in their means of transport.
The " miserable little trucks on your railways and the
extortionate charges" fill Mr. Carnegie with disgust
and amazement. He once said that if all the existing
rolling stock in England were destroyed it would be a
blessing to British industry rather than a calamity.

His views on this great question of International
Competition as it affects British interests have been
severely criticized, but there is no denying the fact
that many of his suggestions and opinions contain
much sound common sense and are of much practical
value. He is a man of conviction, and having satisfied
himself upon the justness of his cause, is not afraid to
express his views. He is a candid friend to his native
land, and all who are open to conviction will thank
him for the genuine interest and thoughtftil counsel.
Britain could do with more men of Mr. Carnegie's

126 ANDREW CARNEGIE

caliber, who put duty and conviction before fame and
applause. British manufacturers can draw many-
valuable lessons from his industrial methods and his
views on the question of International Competition.

His Gospel of Wealth

CHAPTER IX

HIS GOSPEL OF WEALTH

IT is rare indeed to hear ''the advantages of poverty**
eulogized by a millionaire. In a world where
selfish interests are ever3rwhere pursued it seems almost
an irony to ask any one to believe that a man with
unfettered millions can delight to sing its praises and to
condemn those who hoard wealth from selfish motives.
Of all the puzzling paradoxes surely this is the greatest !
At first sight it would seem that the author of such a
doctrine must be a confirmed miser. But Mr. Carnegie
is neither a millionaire miser nor a meddling moralizer,
for if any man practises what he preaches, that man
is Andrew Carnegie. Yet he is not a philanthropist.
He lays no claim to such a title. A philanthropist he
defines as a man who gives his wealth and follows it up
by personal labor. Mr. Carnegie has given vast sums
away, but he has not carried out the second stipulation,
and therefore the honor of being styled "a philan-
thropist" is not, he says, his right. As it would be"
impossible for him to concentrate his energies upon one
particular kind of work, owing to the enormous amoimt
of labor involved in the distribution of his fortune, he

129

I30 ANDREW CARNEGIE

has an excellent excuse, and we must forgive him for
his modest interpretation of the title. But if he is
not a philanthropist, what is he? A _ trustee for the
Englishes peqkmg_j^^ he says, should be

held in trust for the benefit of the whole commimity.
Attached to its ownership are great responsibilities, and
if the millionaire fails to carry them out it will be
counted by future generations as a gross neglect of
public duty^^

/Mr. Carnegie's gospel has many different aspects,
but it falls into two main parts: the advantages of
poverty and the responsibilities of surplus wealth.
His views on the distribution of wealth have always
excited a good deal of interest. They are distinguished
by characteristic thoroughness, striking originality,
lofty ideals and a large-hearted spirit; and coming
from one who is a millionaire many times over, it is only
natural they should have attracted world-wide atten-
tion./ Mr. Carnegie during the last fifteen years has
written several prominent articles on the subject of
wealth, and given expression to his' views in a number
of speeches and conversations, y^e was asked some
years ago, "What are the gifts a youth, who has the
ambition to make millions, should be endowed with at
his birth ?' * The steel millionaire replied : * ' The great-
est of all advantages with which he can begin life is
that of being poor. The man who wishes to make

HIS GOSPEL OF WEALTH 131

millions should not be born with a silver spoon in his_
mouth. He must feel that it is sink or swim with j
him. , He must start his life with no bladders, no /
life-preservers, no support." This advice is character-
istic of its giver, and there is no doubt as to the '
conviction which inspired it.y/ ^

fl^hQ same may be said of all Mr. Carnegie's views.
He holds that there is no better schoolmaster than
adversity, and that the youth who has witnessed the
struggles of his parents against poverty's hardships
has had the best of all incentives to successy Having
driven the wolf from the door of his own home, he can
speak from actual experience, and though many will
find themselves unable to follow Mr. Carnegie all the
way, yet it cannot be denied that if poverty teaches
nothing else it impresses the virtue of thrift, and in some
cases, but not all, urges a youth to make his position
in the world by industrious and honorable effort.
When Mr. Carnegie refers to the "poor" boy he does
not mean the unfortunate urchins of slumland, who
are reared amid the vilest surroimdings of immorality
and filth. To contend that such conditions were
*' advantageous" would be absurd. To quote his own
words: "It is not so much to raise the submerged
tenth, but to help the swimming tenth to keep their
heads above water." It is the members of this "swim-
ming tenth" — in other words, the industrious poor, who

132 ANDREW CARNEGIE

have to struggle hard day by day to earn an honest
living, and who try, little by little, to improve their
position, that Mr. Carnegie is concerned with.

In 1 89 1 he contributed an article on 'The Advan-
tages of Poverty" to the Nineteenth Century Review,
in which he dealt at considerable length with the ques-
tion of hereditary wealth and the influence of home
life on the careers of young men. Poor boys reared
by their parents have, he maintained, many advan-
tages over those taught by hired strangers and exposed
to the temptations of wealth; and to him it is not
surprising that they become ''the leaders in every
branch of human action." He pictures them as
athletes trained for the contest, with "sinews braced,
indomitable wills, resolved to do or die." Such boys,
he says, "always have marched and always will march
straight to the front and lead the world ; they are the
epoch-makers." The men who have lifted and
advanced the race and been supremely great in every
field of human triumph, he argues, have not been those
endowed with wealth and hereditary rank, the posses-
sion of which "is almost fatal to greatness and good-
ness," but young men who have been nurtured "in
the bracing school of poverty — the only school capable
of producing the supremely great, the genius."

Mr. Carnegie's glowing defense of poverty's blessings
is open to argument; but nevertheless we cannot but

HIS GOSPEL OF WEALTH 133

admire his ardent enthusiasm and strong convictions.
Poverty has an altogether opposite effect on different
natures, and in some cases its environment acts as a wet
blanket on youthful hopes, and its menial work tends
to bltmt the intellect and overtax the physical and
moral strength. Mr. Carnegie's career is a singular
exception . We cannot judge by one particular instance ,
but apply the principles generally. With a feeling
of sincere pleasure we quote the following paragraph
from an article by one who has experienced all the
bitterness of a hard struggle with poverty and, while
successful in his fight for fortime, has retained intact
the simplicity of his soul amid all the enticements of
superfluous wealth. "Among many advantages aris-
ing, not from the transmission of hereditary wealth and
position, but from the transmission of hereditary
poverty and health, there is one which, to my mind,
outweighs all the others combined. It is not permitted
the children of king, millionaire or noble to have father
and mother in the close and realizing sense of these
sacred terms. The name of father and the holier name
of mother are but names to the child of the rich and
the noble. To the poor boy these are the words he
conjures with, his guides, the anchors of his soul, the
objects of his adoration. Neither nurse, servant, gover-
ness nor tutor has come between him and his parents.
In his father he has had tutor, companion, counselor

134 ANDREW CARNEGIE

/' and judge. It is not given to the bom millionaire,
noble or prince to dwell upon such an inheritage as is

i^ \ his who has had in his mother, nurse, seamstress,

^4 teacher, inspirer, saint — ^his all in all.'*

Mr. Carnegie's whole article was distinguished by-
great force and clearness. It consisted chiefly of a
spirited reply to Mr. Gladstone's and the Rev. Hugh
Price Hughes's criticisms upon his famous article
^'Wealth," which appeared in the North American
Review for June, 1889. This created a great sensation
at the time of its publication, and drew forth comments
from a number of public men in England and America,
prominent among whom were President Cleveland,
Cardinal Manning, Rabbi Adler, Cardinal Gibbons
and Bishop Potter. It formed the topic of a com-
prehensive discussion in the principal reviews and
newspapers, and though generally commended, it
did not escape trenchant criticism from some
quarters.

We would have liked to have quoted in full many-
striking passages from this article, but must be con-
tent with some brief extracts. At the present time,
when Mr. Carnegie is just entering upon the gigantic
task of distributing his wealth and carrying into
practice the principles he then laid down, his written
views on the subject possess additional importance. The
three articles he has written on the influence and use of

HIS GOSPEL OF WEALTH 135

wealth will repay study by those who are interested in
the great social questions of the hour.

The article opened with a reference to the changed
conditions of industrial life and the transference of
labor from the home to the factory. He ridiculed the
suggestion of "good old times," and strongly main-
tained that every section of society is now living under
happier and better conditions. The laborer has now
more comforts than the farmer had a few generations
ago, and the farmer more than the landlord previously
enjoyed. These changed conditions have caused a
division between employer and employee, but this, he
holds, has not been without its good results. The law
of competition is now the dominating influence in the
commercial world, and ''the survival of the fittest" the
recognized basis of individual action. He quoted the
maxim, "If thou dost not sow, thou shalt not reap,"
and gave a well-deserved reproof to the growth of
idleness and wasteful luxury. Socialistic theories
which mean "revolution, not evolution," were severely
treated. "There can never be equality of power or
pay in this world," he wrote, "where individualism is
necessary to its progress and proper government."
/lie then went on to state that there are three modes
^ which surplus wealth can be distributed. It can be
left to the family, or bequeathed for public purposes,
or administered during their lives by its possessors. /^

136 ANDREW CARNEGIE

Under the first and second modes most of the world's
wealth has been applied. Both, in Mr. Carnegie's
opinion, are injudicious, and especially the custom of
leaving wealth to the eldest son, which, he says, is done
simply to gratify the family pride of maintaining titles
intact. To leave fortunes to children is *'to impose upon
them a burden and a disadvantage." This assertion
bears the stamp of originality, but we are afraid it will
not find many disciples among modem millionaires.
''Beyond providing for the wife and daughters mod-
erate sources of income, and a very moderate allowance
indeed, if any, for the sons, men may well hesitate, for
it is no longer questionable that great sums bequeathed
oftener work more for injury than for benefit to the
recipient. Wise men will soon decide that for the
best interests of the members of their own families
and of the State such bequests are an improper use of
their means." Mr. Carnegie believes in the millionaire
giving his son a good and efficient education, and, if he
enters public life, according him proper support ; but
to the idle spendthrift he would not give a penny,
idleness and waste he detests, and he is never tired of
denouncing these abuses in rich and poor alike. Work
is the oxygen of a happy and contented Hfe, and without
it man degenerates. The indolent and listless habits
of the modem ''aristocratic" young man form a typical
illustration^

HIS GOSPEL OF WEALTH 137

Mr. Carnegie is strongly in favor of death duties.
First, because they are a profitable source of income
for the State; and, secondly, because men should dis-
pose of their surplus wealth while living. He thus
characterizes the leaving of wealth for special uses:
"As to the second mode, that of leaving wealth at
death for public uses, it may be said that this is only a
means for the disposal of wealth, provided a man is
content to wait until he is dead before he becomes
much good in the world.*'

He can see no grace in the gifts of a man who, imao.e
to take his money with him, is compelled, by mere
force of circumstances, to make some bequests before
he dies. The man who leaves his wealth at death
*' erects a monument to his own folly," for it is very
seldom his expressed desires are realized afterward.
*'By taxing estates heavily at death, the State marks
its condemnation of the selfish millionaire's tinworthy
life,,"

/Mx. Carnegie holds that the man of wealth should
personally superintend the distribution of his assets.^
To quote again from the article : ^

"There remains, then, only one mode of using great
fortunes ; but in this we have the true antidote for the
temporary unequal distribution of wealth, the recon-
ciliation of the rich and the poor — a reign of harmony
another ideal, differing, indeed, from that of the

138 ANDREW CARNEGIE

Commtinist in requiring only the further evolution of
existing conditions, not the total overthrow of our
civilization. It is founded upon the present most
intense individualism, and the race is prepared to put
it in practice by degrees whenever it pleases. Under
its sway we shall have an ideal State, in which the sur-
plus wealth of the few will become, in the best sense,
the property of the many, because administered for the
common good; and this wealth, passing through the
hands of the few, can be made a much more potent
force for the elevation of our race than if distributed
in small sums to the people themselves. Even the
poorest can be made to see this, and to agree that great
sums gathered by some of their fellow citizens and
spent for public purposes, from which the masses reap
the principal benefit, are more valuable to them than
if scattered among themselves in trifling amounts
through the course of many years.

He says: "It is well to remember that it requires
the exercise of not less ability than that which acquired
the wealth to use it so as to be really beneficial to the
community." That is one of the most significant
tenets of his gospel, and those wiseacres who take such
supreme delight in offering the Laird of Skibo advice,
and proposing to him schemes, would save themselves
much time and disappointment if they made a note
of this decisive principle, and the fact that Mr. Carnegie

HIS GOSPEL OF WEALTH 139

has an unbroken law "to help only those who help
themselves."

/Rich men, he says, have cause to be thankful for one
inestimable boon — "they have it in their power, dur-
ing their lives, to busy themselves in organizing bene-
factions from which the masses of their fellows will
derive lasting benefit, and thus they will dignify their
own lives. '^

/X)ne of the most striking passages in the article was
the one which denounced indiscriminate charity. " It
were better for mankind that the millions of the rich
were thrown into the sea than so spent as to encourage
the slothful, the drunken, the unworthy .i/Of every
thousand dollars spent in so-called charity to-day, it
is probable that nine hundred and fifty dollars are
unwisely spent — so spent, indeed, as to produce the
very evils which it hopes to mitigate or cure." Busi-
ness methods are indispensable, he maintains, in the
task of distributing wealth. Before a gift is made the
donor should institute inquiries to find out if the object
is worthy of support. This is a rule which, though liable
to err on the side of severity, has many sound recom-
mendations, and is likely to be mor^ generally adopted
in the future by men of wealth. pJlr. Carnegie has an.
idea that many well-meant bequests greatly encourage
idleness, and rather support those who " neither toil nor
spin," he would keep his millions under lock and ke^^

I40 ANDREW CARNEGIE

While approving of Mr. Carnegie's businesslike
methods in the distribution of his wealth, many think
he would be well advised to widen his horizon and take
a more liberal view of the world's voluntary work. So
far his attention has been confined to one particular
corner. That is a very promising field, and one of the
most worthy, there is no doubt, but yet there are
^ther plots which have very strong claims, and only
need developing to yield abundant harvests. With
more leisure to look around, he will doubtless discover
some of the good qualities which distinguish other noble
branches of social work in which self-help is the sus-
taining force.

'Mr. Carnegie has laid down what he considers to be
the duty of the man of wealth. ' ' First, to set an example
of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display and
extravagances ; to provide moderately for the legitimate
wants of those dependent upon him; after doing so to
consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply
as trust fimds, which he is called upon to administer,
and strictly botmd as a matter of duty to administer,
in the manner which in his judgment is best calcu-
lated to benefit the community. The man of wealth
thus becomes the mere agent and trustee for his poorer
brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom,
experience and ability to administer, and doing for them

better than they would or could do to thpmselvesy^

C>4rL Vto./

HIS GOSPEL OF WEALTH 141

This is a high-minded ideal scheme of excellent
merits, and when the world's millionaires embrace it
one and all we shall look with greater faith to that

.Xh

"One far off divine event
To which the whole nation moves.'

'hat his gospel is sotmd and practicable the world
has already had many convincing proofs, not the least
in scope and results being Mr. Carnegie's own bene-
factionsV He has written a list of commandments,
specially suited for millionaires, and we trust his gospel
will, yet find many adherents. One thing is certain,
those who follow it will write their names indelibly upon
their country's history, and be venerated by succeed-
ing generations.

Mr. Carnegie has given his gospel the best possible
christening, and there are significant signs that he is
likely to have many worthy followers. While millions
are a burden to some men, and crush both soul and
energy, he finds in them no source of anxiety. They
are his, and yet they are not. Their disbursement
will give him the greatest happiness and abolish all
thoughts of anxiety from his mind.

Mr. Carnegie has taken a glimpse into the future,
when he hopes the problem of rich and poor will be
solved. *' The laws of accumulation and distribution,"
he says, * * will be left free. Individualism will continue,
but the millionaire will be but a trustee for the poor,

142 ANDREW CARNEGIE

entrusted for a season with a great part of the increased
wealth of the commtinity and administering it for that
community far better than it could or would have
done for itself. A stage in the development of the race
will thus be reached, when it will be clearly seen that
there is no mode of disbursing surplus wealth creditable
to thoughtful, earnest men into whose hands it flows,
save by using it year by year for the general good."

Mr Carnegie thinks this new era in the world's

history has already dawned ; and as the light becomes

more distinct he prophecies that the voice of the people

will strongly condemn the man who hoards wealth

instead of wisely allotting it to better his fellow men.

Making handsome bequests before the last hour will

not earn the full reward. Giving during life is, in

his opinion, the only just and proper course.

^-^ "The day is not far distant," he says, ''when the

I man who dies, leaving behind him millions of available

— J wealth, which was free for him to administer during

\ life, will pass away unwept, unhonored and unstmg,

/ no matter to what use he leaves the dross which he can-

^-~4iot take with him. Of such as these the public verdict

V \ -will be: 'The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced'

\ Such, in my opinion, is the true gospel concerning

V. wealth, obedience to which is destined some day to

solve the problem of rich and poor, and to bring peace

on earth and goodwill to men."

HIS GOSPEL OF WEALTH 143

This noble ideal, drawn so vividly and urged so
forcibly by the Pittsburgh millionaire, is what the world
is waiting to see realized. Mr. Carnegie has already
proved by practice that he believes in his great ideal.
It is something more than words to him. He is con-
vinced that it can be applied, and now that he has cut
himself clear from all business duties, and has at his
unrestricted command more than $250,000,000, the
world may expect some epoch-making announcements
during the next few years.

In his review of the "Gospel of Wealth," Mr.
Gladstone hailed Mr. Carnegie as a philanthropist of
the highest order: "This self-made millionaire has
confronted the moral and social problem of wealth
more boldly, so far as I know, than any previous
writer. His coiirage and frankness, both of them
superlative, are among the attendant virtues which
walk in the train of munificence not less modest
and simple than it is habitual and splendid."

The Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, in commenting upon
Mr. Camegie*s "Gospel of Wealth," asserted that
"the progress of millionaires is inevitably accompanied
by the growing poverty of their fellow-countrymen."

To this line of argument Mr. Carnegie made a very
powerful reply. "The progress and the evolution of
the millionaire," he insisted, " is beneficial to the whole
community. So far from it being a fact that 'mil-

144 ANDREW CARNEGIE

lionaires at one end of the scale mean paupers at the
other/ the reverse is obviously true. In a country
where millionaires exist there is very little excuse for
pauperism. Millionaires can only grow amid general
prosperity, and this is largely promoted by their exer-
tions. Their profits accrue in periods when wages are
high, and the higher the wages that have to be paid
the higher the revenues of the employer." The Rev.
Mr. Hughes, in his criticism, also said that in a State
under really Christian principles "a millionaire would
be an impossibility." Mr. Carnegie neatly retorted
that there would also be "no need for parsons," and
he jocularly added, *'the successors of Mr. Hughes
and myself, arm-in-arm, will make a pretty pair, out
in search of some light work with heavy pay."

In the North American Review for 189 1, Mr. Carnegie
wrote a second article on his ''Gospel of Wealth." It
was characterized by the same earnest spirit and busi-
nesslike suggestions, and consisted in the main of a
scheme by which the millionaire could, to the advant-
age of the community, distribute his wealth. He again
severely chastised the miser for his sins. Mr. Carnegie
is thoroughly well versed in Biblical quotations, and
very often when speaking or writing he repeats some
well-known passage of Scripture, and draws his similes
from the best of all books, but not always with due
reverence. "There will be nothing to surprise the

HIS GOSPEL OF WEALTH 145

student of socialistic development," he wrote, **i£
society could approve the text which says that a camel
can go through the eye of a needle more easily than
a rich man can enter the kingdom of heaven."

In the course of the article Mr. Carnegie dealt with
seven objects which, in his opinion, were worthy of the /
attention of those possessed of wealth, (i) To found
or enlarge a university; (2) The erection of free libra-
ries; (3) Establishment of hospitals or laboratories;
(4) To present public parks; (5) to open public halls
with organs; (6) To start swimming baths; (7) To
build churches.

At a time when all the world is wondering how he
will dispose of his surplus wealth, his views as to the
merits of these channels of usefulness will be interest-
ing: ^
To found or enlarge a University.

" Standing apart by itself there is the founding of a
university by men enormously rich. By adding to
and extending those tmiversities in existence a wide
field remains for the millionaire as distinguished from
the Croesus among millionaires."

To found Free Libraries.

** The result of my own study of the question : What
is the best gift that can be given to a community? is,
that a free library occupies the first place, provided that
the community will accept and maintain it as a public

146 ANDREW CARNEGIE

institution, as much a part of the city property as its
public schools, and indeed an adjunct to those. Closely
allied to the library, and, where possible, attached to it,
there should be rooms for an art gallery and museum,
and a hall for such lectures and instruction as are pro-
vided in the Cooper Union."

To establish Hospitals and Laboratories.
"We have another most important department in
extension of hospitals, medical colleges, laboratories,
and other institutions connected with the alleviation
of human suffering, and especially with the prevention
rather than the cure of human ills. The forms that
benefactions to these may take are numerous, but
probably none is more useful than that of building
schools for the training of female nurses."

To present Public Parks.

" In the very front rank of benefactions public parks
should be placed, always provided that the community
undertakes to maintain, beautify and preserve invio-
late the parks given to it."

To open Public Halls with Organs.

"We have another good use for surplus wealth in
providing for our cities halls suitable for meetings of all
kinds, especially for concerts of elevating music. Our
cities are rarely provided with halls for these purposes.
The gift of a hall to any city lacking one is an excellent

HIS GOSPEL OF WEALTH 147

use of surplus wealth for the good of a community,
provided the city agrees to maintain and use it."
To erect Swimming Baths.

" In another respect we are still much behind Europe,
A form of beneficence which is not uncommon there
is providing swimming baths for the people."
To build Churches.

" Churches as fields for surplus wealth have purposely
been reserved until the last, because, these being sec-
tarian, every man will be governed by his own attach-
ments ; therefore it may be said gifts to churches are not
in one sense gifts to the community at large, but to
special classes. The millionaire should not figure how
cheaply this structure can be built, but how perfect it
can be made. But, having given the building, the donor
should stop there ; the support of the church should be
upon its own people. There is not much genuine
religion in the congregation or much good to flow from
the church which is not supported at home."

With this last statement there will be a general
agreement. A religion bereft of self-sacrificing charity
is not worthy of the name. Mr. Carnegie has given
liberally to many of the objects specified in this article,
including the presentation of some hundreds of organs
to places of worship and public halls ; but he has yet
to build his first church. The main reasons for his
abstinence from this branch of philanthropy are the

148 ANDREW CARNEGIE

narrowness and sectarianism which distinguishes the
church of the present day. A united church, with one
plain form of religion, would probably find in Mr.
Carnegie a generous supporter ; but while there are so
many sects, so many divisions, so many conflicting
creeds, it is impossible for one of a very broad mind
and national sympathies to give his money to one par-
ticular branch of religion. So he holds himself aloof,
leaving the work to those who have more faith in their
self -chosen mode of worship.

It is a matter of general surprise that Mr. Carnegie
has not helped any branch of church work, and there
have been many hasty judgments passed upon his
attitude by good people, who have written him long
letters asking for support toward "their forthcoming
bazaar or church extension scheme," but to their
disappointment and vexation no notice has been taken
of their carefully posted epistles. A little thought and
study of the man and his views would have convinced
the good-hearted letter-writer that to build hopes of
receiving either help or a reply would be entirely delu-
sive. Nothing can be lost by asking. It is well to
cultivate faith and hope, but also most unwise to live
tmder the delusion that every rich man appealed to
would send his cheque by return of post. It may be
very impolite of Mr. Carnegie not even to reply, but has
not the bombarded millionaire some excuse when it is

HIS GOSPEL OF WEALTH 149

remembered he is the recipient of some five himdred
letters — some very bulky and formidable — every day.
They flow from all comers of the globe into one silent
grave— the waste-paper basket. Not one in a thousand
reaches Mr. Carnegie's hands. They are sifted by keen,
watchful eyes, and the majority meet with the same
cruel fate. It is certainly good for the paper trade,
but troublesome for the secretaries, and mercilessly
destructive to the fond hopes of the senders.

Mr. Carnegie concluded his article on "The Best |
Fields for Philanthropy" with the following impressive Ik/
declaration: "The Gospel of Wealth but echoes/^
Christ's words; it calls upon the ^millionaire to sell all
he hath and give the highest and best to the poor, by\
administering his estate for his fellow men before he is \
called to lie down and rest upon the bosom of mother /
earth. So doing he will approach his end no longer the /
ignoble hoarder of useless millions; poor, very poor
indeed in money, but rich, very rich in the affection,
gratitude and admiration of his fellow men, and
sweeter far, soothed and sustained by the still sweet 1
voice within, which whispering tells him that because \
he has lived perhaps one small portion of the great \
world has been bettered just a little. This much is 1
sure, against such riches as these no bar will be found /
at the gates of Paradise." '"^"^

Mr. Carnegie has put before himself a noble and lofty

I50 ANDREW CARNEGIE

ideal. ^^lis "Gospel of Wealth" found general accept-
ance. The world was amazed at its generous and liberal-
hearted suggestions, and the spirit of unselfishness and
practical charity which characterized it throughout. It
was in many respects a imique manifesto, ably con-
ceived, wisely arranged and strongly democratic in tone,
and must be regarded as a valuable contribution to social
science/Mr. Gladstone gave it his cordial approval and
support, and a number of pubHc men of all shades of
thought were imanimous in their eulogy of its high tone
and practical utility. The Pittsburgh millionaire leaped
with one bound into the world's public arena and
became one of the foremost and most discussed men on
this side of the Atlantic and in America./' It was one
millionaire laying down the law for his brethren, a law
which did not quite suit some tastes and inclinations.
It was a bold attack upon miserly habits, selfish greed,
and, of course, aroused some personal opposition and
bitter criticism, but it was not without its good effect,
and many wealthy men realized for the first ,time the
great responsibihties attached to their riches.

Mr. Carnegie has not only theoretically discussed
his "Gospel of Wealth"; he has emphasized its utility
by putting its principles into practice, and in this
respect the future promises to be even richer in results
than the past. This leads us to a consideration of his
numierous gifts and benefactions.

His Benefactions

CHAPTER X

HIS BENEFACTIONS

GIVING is at once the easiest and most difficult of
arts. It is an art, because before proficiency can
be attained much experience is necessary, and the judg-
ment needs to have imdergone a strict course of training.
Liberality requires cultivation and care, like every other
quality, and this more particularly applies to the man
entrusted with millions of available wealth. It is
somewhat of a paradox to find that wealth which has
been amassed by conspicuous ability and hard toil is
often distributed without discretion.

This cannot be said of Mr. Andrew Carnegie. He
has acquired his wealth by the power of his brains, but
he has not squandered his earnings by indiscriminate
charity. There may be some dissent with his methods,
but general approval will be given to the munificent
gifts he has made and the schemes he has financially
launched. /His aim has been to help the masses, and
to encourage those who are striving by personal effort
to cultivate their intellects and to improve their
positions in the world. Self-help has been the motive
power which has influenced most of his benefactions,

153

154 ANDREW CARNEGIE

and in this respect he has offered many splendid induce-
ments to yoimg men to climb the ladder of success by
the rungs of education^

Up to June, 1902, Mr. Carnegie's benefactions
amounted to nearly $100,000,000. This huge total
is probably the largest aggregate of money given away
by one man. It is really impossible accurately to
estimate what the Pittsburgh millionaire has distributed
in gifts during the past thirty years, but any estimate
is likely to be under rather than above the mark.

Before he sailed for England in 1901 he left four
letters announcing gifts amounting to $9,000,000.
This munificent sum was made up of $4,000,000 to pro-
vide a pension fund for the workmen of the Carnegie
Steel Company, $1,000,000 for the support of the libra-
ries established for workmen at his works, $5,200,000
for the erection of sixty-five branch libraries in New
York, and $1,000,000 to the city of St. Louis, Missouri,
for a similar object. Although these four letters bore
the same date, March 12, this does not signify that
these magnificent gifts were hastily decided upon.
The facts are just the reverse. These endowments
were the result of careful inquiry, and had been under
Mr. Carnegie's consideration for some time. Mr.
Carnegie thinks before he gives, and often consults
with intimate friends before he finally decides.

At the time of his departure from New York he said :

HIS BENEFACTIONS 155

"I have just begun to give away money," and based
upon that assertion the future should reveal unparal-
leled gifts to an expectant world. One possessed of
his great fortune has unlimited opporttmities at his
command and immeasurable responsibilities placed
upon him. His position is unique, and without parallel
in modem history. The world lies at his feet awaiting his
endpwments and wondering how he will fulfil his gospel,
y/rhe greater portion of the money Mr. Carnegie has
given away so far has been for the erection of free
libraries. This is the steel millionaire's favorite
sphere. He firmly believes it contains the most prolific
soil, and only needs developing to play an important
part in the world's educational progress^^r

Speaking of circulating libraries he once said: **In
all my experience I have never known so little produce
such great, and as I believe, real beneficial and enduring
results. I cannot but think it only needs to be known
that the opportunity to do so much good is within the
reach of wealthy men for so small a pittance from their
store." His robust faith in the far-reaching results
of well-equipped libraries is, like other strong convic-
tions, the heritage of his boyhood. He has culled a
leaf from his own life and applied it to the needs of the
struggling poor and the respectable artisan, and it is
from this source that his liberality in founding free
libraries and public rooms has sprung.

156 ANDREW CARNEGIE

When a boy in Pittsburgh, striving with all his
might to improve his prospects, he was permitted with
some other youths to borrow books from the library of a
gentleman named Colonel Anderson. Every Saturday
afternoon the good-hearted Colonel was in attendance
at his house to lend any of his four himdred books.
Young Carnegie eagerly looked forward to those
Saturday afternoons. They were the simny days of
his youth, and the great joy they gave him has never
faded from his memory. The opportunity of reading
another book made the week swing along more
smoothly. This privilege was shared by his brother
Tom and his future partner, Mr. Phipps. The young
telegraph messenger resolved in his buoyant enthusi-
asm that if ever wealth fell to his lot he would use it to
establish free libraries, so that poor boys might have
opportunities of reading the best books. His two
companions little thought that Andrew's resolve would
one day be realized, and that he would earn for himself
a name as the greatest friend free libraries have ever
had since their birth. Mr. Carnegie holds the memory
of Colonel Anderson's kindly act in the deepest rever-
ence, and it is as his disciple he has entered upon his
labor of love in presenting libraries to those towns
that will undertake efficiently to maintain them.
There is an element of romance in this striking episode
which gives to the task he has set himself an additional

HIS BENEFACTIONS 157

charm. It is a magnificent testimony to the far-
reaching value of a thoughtful action, and teaches a
significant lesson, especially to those who have it
within their power to help boys to rise to positions of
usej^ulness.

/Mr. Carnegie has made grants for the erection of
more than 375 libraries in the United States alone/
and the following among a large number of American
towns have benefited by his generosity: New York,
$5,200,000; Pittsburgh, $9,500,000 for Institute
and Technical School; St. Louis, $1,000,000; Alle-
ghany, $275,000; Braddock, $500,000; Washington,
$10,350,000, including the Carnegie Institution;
Johnstown, $50,000; Fairfield, $40,000; San Fran-
cisco, $750,000 ; Louisville, $250,000 ; Detroit,
$750,000. The list of these gifts has now reached
a magnificent total.

He has been nearly as liberal to the people of his
native land, and has presented or aided free libraries
in Edinburgh, Dunfermline, Aberdeen, Peterhead,
Inverness, Ayr, Elgin, Wick and Kirkwall, and has
contributed to the establishment of many public halls
and reading-rooms in various other towns.

As an acknowledgment of his patriotic support he
has been presented with the freedom of eleven towns
of his native land, including the capital, a record of
which he is justly proud. He greatly prizes these

158 ANDREW CARNEGIE

honors and the cordial welcome extended to him by
his own countrymen.

This does not, however, complete the list of his gifts
to Scottish libraries. He signalized his return to his
native land in May, 1901, by making a handsome offer
to the Corporation of Glasgow. The Lord Provost,
who presided at a meeting of the city council on May
1 6th, announced that the following letter had been
placed in his hands the previous day :

"My Dear Lord Provost : — It will give me pleasure
to provide the needed ;£i 00,000 for Branch Libraries,
which are sure to prove of great advantage to the
masses of the people. It is just fifty years since
my parents with their little boys sailed from
Broomielaw for New York in the barque Wiscassett,
900 tons, and it is delightful to be permitted
to commemorate the event upon my visit to you.
Glasgow has done so much in municipal affairs to
educate other cities, and to help herself, that it is a
privilege to help her. Let Glasgow flourish ! So say
all of us Scotsmen throughout the world. Always
yours, Andrew Carnegie."

Before we pass on to refer to his other benefactions,
a description of the magnificent library he gave to
Pittsburgh, the city of his commercial triumph, and

HIS BENEFACTIONS 159

those he presented to Allegheny and Braddock, will
not be out of place; it will at least show how thor-
oughly Mr. Carnegie carries out his free library
schemes, and the efficient manner in which he launches
these educational instruments upon their careers.

The first library he endowed was the one at
Braddock, a town of about 20,000 inhabitants, who are
most of them employed at the Carnegie Steel Works.
The library gradually outgrew its accommodation, and
the formation of a Carnegie Club necessitated a large
addition to the buildings. A new hall to seat 1,100
people was built, and a large gymnasium with a swim-
ming bath was added. In addition to these a billiard-
room was opened for the use of club members. The
club proved a great success, the members paying an
annual subscription of six shillings.

Soon afterward he offered to present to the neigh-
boring town of Alleghany, at a cost of $375,000, a
library with shelving accommodation for 70,000 vol-
umes, a concert hall with a $10,000 organ, a lecture
room, and an art gallery, providing the corporation
found the site and the $15,000 per annum necessary
to maintain it. The offer was accepted, and the
buildings were formally opened by President Harrison
on February 13, 1890. Four years after it had been
opened the number of books in circulation was
returned at 125,000 volumes, and it was* estimated that

i6o ANDREW CARNEGIE

160,000 periodicals had been in use throughout the
year. The government of the library is invested in a
committee elected by the City Council.

The largest block of buildings Mr. Carnegie has
erected is the vast fabric at Pittsburgh known as the
Carnegie Institute. The name of Carnegie is indelibly
associated with the great steel centre. He offered
to provide $1,100,000 for free library buildings,
on condition that the City Council agreed to spend
annually on its maintenance and equipment $40,000,
and that the management of the institution should be
invested in a commtitee, half the members of which
were to be nominated by himself, the other half by the
Council. The offer at first was not accepted, but as the
result of a popular agitation the sleepy Council were
aroused to a sense of their duty, and after some manceu-
vering, during which Mr. Carnegie's playful humor
was highly successful, he agreed to renew his offer.

The institute, which was opened in November, 1895,
is a magnificent structiure of gray sandstone in the
Italian renaissance style of architecture. On the ground
floor a spacious entrance hall leads to the circulating
library and reading-rooms. On the second floor are
located the main reference library and the stack-room
with a capacity of 1 50,000 volumes. One portion of the
building comprises a music hall, capable of seating
2, ICO persons, and a stage for sixty musicians and a

HIS BENEFACTIONS i6i

chorus of two hundred. It is enriched by a splendid
pipe organ, on which every week a free organ recital
is given. Mr. Carnegie borrowed the idea of giving
free organ recitals from Birmingham, where for the
first time he heard the city organist give a public recital.
Another section of this vast block of imposing architec-
ture is set aside as an art gallery and museum, and one
wing of it supplies a spacious lecture hall and rooms for
debating and scientific societies. In the basement are
a number of classrooms, where instruction is given in
various kinds of technical work. The building is
illuminated throughout by electricity, and is fitted up
with the most modern ventilating and heating appa-
ratus. Connected with this library are seven distribu-
ting stations in the outlying districts. The institute
has been used to a remarkable extent by the workmen
in the iron and steel works for improving their knowl-
edge and gaining technical information about their
work. Special literature on engineering, natural philos-
ophy and the useful arts is widely read. Two million
dollars has also been given to establish a Polytechnic
School in Pittsburgh. These magnificent gifts speak
louder than words of Mr. Carnegie's interest in and
affection for the city wherein his success was won.
There are many evidences that these great gifts of Mr.
Carnegie have proved an immense influence for good
on the life of the city.

i62 ANDREW CARNEGIE

■ Next to his adopted country his native land has been
the largest recipient of his generosity. Dunfermline,
his birthplace, may almost be regarded as an endowed
city. To Mr. Carnegie it owes its swimming baths,
library and technical school — a building which was
opened in October, 1899, and is a most practical seat of
learning. It has fine spacious workshops, fitted with
modem tools for instruction in wood- work, metal- work,
mechanical engineering and mining, and also a physical
laboratory. Special attention is given to local indus-
tries in the weaving department, which is equipped with
two power looms and six hand looms.

- England has so far participated but little in his
lavish endowments. He, however, made an open offer
to English-speaking towns in May, 1902. When he
received the freedom of the city from the Guild of
Plumbers in London, he stated in a speech that he stood
ready to contribute toward the erection of a free
library, provided the local authorities would spend
not less than ten per cent, of his gift a year on its main-
tenance. This offer has already been taken advantage
of in several instances, and as it becomes more widely
known no doubt there will be an increasing number
of applications. This was not done on the spur of the
moment, but after deliberate study, and we may be
sure he meant what he said.

While the majority of Mr. Carnegie's larger gifts

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HIS BENEFACTIONS 163

have thus been made to his adopted country and to his
native land, there is one conspicuous exception — his
donation of $250,000 to the endowment fund of the
New Birmingham University. This handsome recog-
nition of Birmingham's effort to estabHsh in her midst
a modem university, where her sons can receive an
educational equipment to enable them to vie success-
fully with foreign competitors, was made through the
Chancellor of the University, the Right Hon. Joseph
Chamberlain, M. P., who, in communicating the offer
to the Lord Mayor, wrote: "I feel convinced that this
munificent offer of Mr. Andrew Carnegie wiU be grate-
fully accepted by the promoters of the new university,
and will be thoroughly appreciated by the people of
Birmingham." Mr. Carnegie's tmexpected assistance
was heartily welcomed by the inhabitants of the
Midland metropolis, whose feelings of deep gratitude
were admirably reflected in the leading columns of the
two principal morning papers, the Daily Post and the
Daily Gazette. It not only gave a fresh impetus to the
scheme, but aroused widespread interest throughout
the country. His letter, which we have already pro-
duced, was made the theme of mmierous articles in the
daily press, and stirred up hopes that the gift was to
be the forerunner of others of a similar nature. Mr.
Carnegie's generosity is always preceded by careful
consideration, and there is no reason to doubt that he

i64 ANDREW CARNEGIE

will repeat his offer to any other English city desirous
of f otinding a modem university with a faculty of com-
merce as one of its distinguishing features.

Mr. Carnegie's mtmificent help put the Birmingham
University scheme on the highroad to success. It
drew attention to the need of such a seat of learning
in a district where nearly the whole of the inhabitants
are dependent upon manufactures and industrial pur-
suits, and also led to a movement being set on foot
for the support of the scheme by employers of labor.
To-day the Birmingham University is a reality, having
received its charter and conferred its first degrees.
Its endowment fund has reached the splendid total of
$2,000,000, a result largely due to the strenuous efforts
and personal influence of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain.
As Mr. Carnegie views the progress this Midland
university is making, and the sphere of usefulness
it is aspiring to attain as a commercial power, he
must feel thankful that he extended to it a helping
hand. It promises to be one of his most fruitful gifts,
and the future is sure to justify the wisdom of his
decision and the thoughtful suggestions contained in
his letter.

A noticeable feature of Mr. Carnegie's benefactions
is, as already stated, the small amount he has given
to strictly religious work. In his " Gospel of Wealth"
he gave his reasons for this decision. He has no

HIS BENEFACTIONS 165

atheistic prejudice against Christian work, but he
believes that those who hold a particular creed should
render it pecuniary as well as moral assistance. The
millionaire who appoints himself a trustee for the
English-speaking race cannot, in justice to his posi-
tion, favor one special denomination, as his boimden
duty is to distribute his wealth so that all may derive
some benefit. His aims must be cosmopolitan, and
the channels through which his benefactions flow wide
enough for the whole race to participate in. Such is Mr.
Carnegie's conviction, and although many people may
think that he is thus cutting himself off from a f niitful
sphere, and that his attitude is too rigid, it does not
seem probable that he will depart from his line of
action. Although Mr. Carnegie has not given directly
to the maintenance of religious work, he has presented
churches with a great many organs. He is passionately
fond of music, and, like many others, he can derive
greater benefit from its fascinating and soul-stirring
eloquence than from listening to scores of sermons.
He once said he would hold himself responsible for
what the organ pealed forth on the Sabbath, but not
for what issued from the pulpit. It is this inherent
love of music, and faith in its boundless power, which
has induced him to subscribe toward the cost of church
organs. The founding of a National School of Music
has engaged his attention upon more than one occasion.

1 66 ANDREW CARNEGIE

In 1 89 1 he erected at a cost of $2,000,000 a mag-
nificent concert hall in New York for the use of the
general public. This hall, which is situated in Fifty-
seventh Street, will seat 3,000 persons. It is arranged
on modern lines, and illimiinated by 4,000 electric
lights. It is one of the finest concert halls in the United
States, and has been greatly appreciated by the public
since it was opened. The donor of this magnificent
hall enjoys holding the office of President of the New
York Philharmonic Society, which has its offices in the
great building.

We have already mentioned Mr. Carnegie's hand-
some endowment of $4,000,000 as a pension fund for
the work-people of the Carnegie Steel Company. The
object of this fund is to provide small pensions or aids
to such employees as, after long and creditable service,
through exceptional circumstances need such help in
their old age, and who make a good use of it. It is
intended to give aid to the injured, or to their families,
or to employees who are needy in old age through no
fault of their own, and to secure Some provision against
want as long as there is need, or until young children
can become self-supporting. In his letter announcing
the gift he said: "I make this first use of surplus wealth
upon retiring from business as an acknowledgment of
the deep debt which I owe to the workmen who have
contributed so greatly to my success." Mr. Carnegie

HIS BENEFACTIONS 167

has set a splendid example, and one that is worthy of
more general adoption by employers of labor in this
country and in England.

And now we turn to review Mr. Carnegie's princely
gift of two millions to Scottish University education.
No man has a more ardent love for his native coimtry
than Andrew Carnegie has for Scotia's "Isle.** Like
every Scotchman, he has his own high estimate of the
national virtues. The greatest compliment he could
pay the American was to describe him as a " Scotchman
with his coat off and his sleeves rolled up." Scotch-
men, he firmly believes, are capable of doing anything
human power can accomplish. Whether he considers
them the superior of the American, which is perhaps
an impossibility, or puts them both on the same level,
is a doubtful point. Anyhow, he is never tired of
singing their praises, and he has said that he is more
thankful for being a Scotchman than for any other
circumstance. In his opinion, no nation has more to
be proud of than that which has for its heroes such men
as Wallace, Bruce and Bums. It is not surprising,
therefore, that he should honor Scotland with a great
act of munificence. His patriotic benefaction was
decided upon after careful deliberation and consulta-
tion with the principal educationalists in Scotland.
The source from which Mr. Carnegie drew his inspiration
was an article which appeared some years ago in the

i68 ANDREW CARNEGIE

Nineteenth Century Review, advocating free university
education. The writer, Mr. Thomas Shaw, M. P., is
also a native of Dunfermline, and has also made his
own way in the world. The son of a baker, he rose by
sheer merit to the position of Solicitor-General for
Scotland in the last Liberal administration. This
article attracted the attention of the Scottish-American
millionaire, and the two Dunfermline men had many
conversations about its main idea. After a lapse of a
few years Mr. Carnegie has carried the principles of
the scheme into practical effect, with an endowment
of ;£2, 000,000.

The preamble of the deed conveying the gift states
that, having retired from active business, he deems it
"to be his duty and one of his highest privileges to
administer the wealth which has come to him as a
trustee on behalf of others." Being fully convinced
that one of the best means of discharging that trust
is "by providing funds for improving and extending
the opportunities for scientific study and research in
the universities of Scotland, and by rendering attend-
ance at these universities, and the enjoyment of their
advantages, more available to the deserving and quali-
fied youth of Scotland, to whom the payment of fees
might act as a barrier to the enjoyment of these advan-
tages,'* he decided to transfer to a body of trustees
bonds of the United States Steel Corporation of the

HIS BENEFACTIONS 169

aggregate value of $10,000,000, bearing interest at five
per cent, per annum, and having a currency of fifty
years. The income to be derived from this endow-
ment by the trustees will be therefore $500,000 per
annum.

The trustees appointed include some of the foremost
public men of the day, and it is worthy of note that
they are all connected with Scotland, either by birth
or by adoption, or as representatives of Scottish con-
stituencies in the British Parliament, and that they
comprise all shades of political thought.

The names of the trustees are the Earl of Elgin
(chairman); the Earl of Rosebery; Lord Balfour of
Burleigh; Lord Kelvin; Lord Reay; Lord Kinnear;
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, M. P.; Mr. A. J.
Balfour, M. P.; Mr. Bryce, M. P.; Mr. John Morley,
M. P.; Sir Robert PuUar; Sir Henry E. Roscoe; Mr.
Haldane, M. P. ; and Mr. Thomas Shaw, M. P. The
following are trustees ex officio: The Secretary for
Scotland; the Lords Provost of Edinburgh, Glasgow
and Dunfermline. The four universities are each to
be represented by one trustee, to be chosen by the
University Courts. The trust deed is followed by a
constitution, which provides that the administration
of the trust shall be conducted by an executive com-
mittee of nine members. The first committee is con-
stituted as follows: The Earl of Elgin (chairman),

I70 ANDREW CARNEGIE

Lord Balfour of Burleigh, Lord Kinnear, Sir Henry E.
Roscoe, Mr. Thomas Shaw, the Lord Provost of
Edinburgh, the Lord Provost of Glasgow. The two
remaining members are to be two of the four trustees
nominated by the University Courts, the members for
Edinburgh and Aberdeen acting during the first two
years and the members for Glasgow and St. Andrew
acting during the second two years. The committee have
full power and discretion in dealing with the income
of the trust, and expending it in such a manner as they
consider will best promote the interests of Scottish
university education.

The trust deed states that one-half of the net annual
income is to be applied toward the improvement and
expansion of the imiversities of Scotland in the facul-
ties of science and medicine, also for improving and
extending the opportunities for scientific study and
research, and for increasing the facilities for acquiring
a knowledge of history, economics, English literature
and modem languages, and such other subjects,
cognate to a technical or commercial education, as
can be brought within the scope of the university
curriculum by the erection of buildings, laboratories,
classrooms, museums or libraries; the provision of
efficient apparatus, books and equipment; the insti-
tution and endowment of the professorships and lecture-
ships, including post-graduate lectureships and scholar-

HIS BENEFACTIONS 171

ships, more especially scholarships for the purpose of
encouraging research in any one or more of the subjects
before named.

If it is found necessary the future income of the trust
may be mortgaged to further the above objects, subject
to the consent of the majority of the trustees being
obtained.

The other half of the income, or such part thereof as
in each year may be found requisite, is to be devoted
to the payment of the whole or part of the ordinary
class fees exacted by the universities from students
of Scottish birth or extraction, and of sixteen years of
age upward, or scholars who have given two years'
attendance after the age of fourteen years at State-
aided schools in Scotland, or at such other schools and
institutes in Scotland as are under the inspection of the
Scottish Educational Department. The student must
have passed in the subject-matter of the class in which
payment of fees is desired an examination qualifying
for admission to the study of that subject at the
universities with a view to graduation in any of the
faculties. The students are to make application for the
payment of their fees in such form as may be prescribed
by the committee. The decision of the committee
in all questions of qualification is to be final, and the
fees of all applicants declared to be eligible are in each
case to be paid by the committee as they become

172 ANDREW CARNEGIE

due to the factors or authorized officers of the
universities.

If the committee, after due inquiry, are satisfied that
any student has shown exceptional merit at the tmi-
versity, and may advantageously be afforded assist-
ance beyond the payment of ordinary class fees, they
are to have power to extend such assistance either in
money or other privileges, upon such conditions and
under such regulations as they may prescribe. They
are to have power to withhold payment of fees from
any student who is guilty of misconduct, or who fails
within a reasonable time to pass the ordinary examina-
tion of the universities, or any of them.

Extra mural colleges, science schools or evening
classes in Scotland, attendance at which is recognized
as qualifying or assisting to qualify for graduation,
are entitled to participate in any surplus income. The
committee are also authorized to expend any unused
income in establishing courses of lectures for the benefit
of evening classes, attended by students engaged in
industrial or professional occupation during the day,
or in any other way they think proper in connec-
tion with the purposes expressed in the trust deed
and constitution. In the event of the full income not
being expended, the balance is to be paid into a
reserve fund. The benefits of the trust are available to
students of both sexes. The trustees have power by a

HIS BENEFACTIONS 173

two-thirds majority to modify the conditions imder
which the funds may be appHed to meet the purposes
of the donor, as expressed in the constitution, and
according to the changed conditions of the time. Mr.
Carnegie signed the trust deed on June 7, 1901, from
which date the benefits accruing from his magnificent
gift began to operate.

The publication of the details of the scheme attracted
widespread attention. The inevitable faint rumblings
of the critics were heard, but generally the scheme was
heartily approved. A certain few, who had not grasped
the comprehensive nature of the trust, asserted that it
would pauperize University education and lower its
dignity, but this result will be impossible if the stipu-
lations contained in the trust deed are carried out.
The scheme aims at opening the portals of University
education to those of Scotland's sons and daughters
who show evidences of maturing abilities and a desire
to cultivate their gifts and extend their knowledge.
Scotland need not trouble itself about the class of
intellectual paupers free university education will
produce, for they are destined to occupy the great
positions of their land and to form the solid foundation
of its commercial prosperity.

Mr. Carnegie has given instructions that the self-
respect of parents and students should be recognized.
Provision will be made for treating the stims paid for

174 ANDREW CARNEGIE

fees as advances to be repaid or not at the recipient's
choice. He believes some of the truest and best will
one day, if ever they become rich, remember the trust
which gave them educational assistance in the days of
industrious poverty. The proceedings of the trustees
will be strictly confidential, and it will therefore not be
known whether or not a student has paid any fees.

Speaking at the time when the scheme was made
public, both Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and
Mr. John Morley made appreciative references to Mr.
Carnegie's tmique offer. The Times, however, went so
far as to express the hope that the non-payment of
fees would eventually be abolished, in order that all the
money could be devoted to ''providing world-renowned
laboratories of science." This view found scant
favor, especially among Mr. Carnegie's coimtrymen,
who recognized that he had already made provision
for research, and that the primary object of his great
scheme was not to improve the lot of the professor,
but to aid and stimulate the industrious student with
slender means and high aspirations.

As the scheme became more generally understood,
and hasty and imperfect conception gave place to
deliberate examination, the wisdom and foresight of the
fotmder was conceded by even the critics, and it was
frankly acknowledged that by his princely endow-
ment Mr. Carnegie was giving the youth of Scotland

HIS BENEFACTIONS 175

the best and surest equipment to enable them success-
fully to meet commercial and professional com-
petition. In future years thousands of Scotchmen
will bless the name of Carnegie and honor the man
whose patriotic action placed within their reach the
highest education. A generation hence the foremost
men in Britain will bear grateful testimony to Mr.
Carnegie as the benefactor who made it possible for
them to lay the foundation of a successful career by
assisting them to obtain a thorough education.

Following closely the annotmcement of the details of
the great gift to the Scottish universities came the
nmior of a similar gift to the people of the United
States. Washington, the centre of government of the
Republic of which Andrew Carnegie is so loyal and
eminent a citizen, is the seat of the Carnegie Institution.
This great gift of $10,000,000 is parallel in many ways
with the gift to the Scottish universities, as will be
seen by the informal plan of the Carnegie Institution,
prepared by Dr. Daniel C. Oilman.

Among its aims are these :

To increase the efficiency of the universities and
other institutions of learning throughout the coimtry,
by seeking to utilize and add to their existing facilities,
and to aid teachers in the various institutions for
experimental and other work in these institutions as
far as practicable.

176 ANDREW CARNEGIE

To discover the invaluable and exceptional man in
every department of study, whenever and wherever
found, inside or outside of the schools, and enable him
by financial aid to make the work for which he seems
specially designed his life-work.

To promote original research, paying great attention
thereto, as being one of the chief purposes of this
institution.

To increase facilities for higher education.

To make more useful, to such students as may find
Washington the best point for their special studies, the
museums, libraries, laboratories, observatory, meteoro-
logical, piscicultural and forestry schools, and kindred
institutions of the several departments of the govern-
ment.

To insure the prompt publication and distribution of
the results of scientific investigation, a field considered
to be highly important.

These and kindred objects are to be attained by the
employment of able teachers in the various institutions
in Washington, or at other points, and by enabling men
fitted for special work to devote themselves to it,
through salaried fellowships or scholarships, or through
salaries carrying pensions in old age, or through aid
in other forms to such men as continue their special
work at seats of learning, or who may be discovered
outside the schools.

HIS BENEFACTIONS 177

The form of organization is very simple. Under the
general law of the District of Columbia six persons —
namely, Messrs. John Hay, Edward D. White, John S.
Billings, Charles D. Walcott, Carroll D. Wright and
Daniel C. Oilman — formed an incorporation at Mr.
Carnegie's request, and subsequently, on his nomina-
tion, selected twenty-seven persons to be the trustees,
namely : the President of the United States, the
President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of
the House of Representatives, the Secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution, the President of the National
Academy of Sciences, ex ofjiciis; Orover Cleveland,
John S. Billings, William N. Frey, Lyman J. Oage,
Daniel C. Oilman, John Hay, Abram S. Hewitt, Henry
L. Higginson, Henry Hitchcock, Charles L. Hutchinson,
William Lindsay, Seth Low, Wayne MacVeagh, D. O.
Mills, S. Weir Mitchell, W. W. Morrow, Elihu Root,
John C. Spooner, Andrew D. White, Edward D. White,
Charles D. Walcott and Carroll D. Wright.

Mr. Carnegie's gift made possible, but much more
comprehensively, a great educational scheme that
originated in the mind of Oeorge Washington and has
been a dream of educators ever since.

Mr. Carnegie's chief aims in the distribution of his
wealth, so far, have been to assist the spread of knowl-
edge, to encourage self-help and industrious ambition,
and to implant noble ideals of citizenship and brother-

178 ANDREW CARNEGIE

hood in the minds of the rising generatior^ Mr.
Gladstone spoke of his methods of bestowal as being
worthy of high praise, and said that their effect would
be to ''teach high thought and amiable words, and
courtliness, and the desire of fame, and love of truth,
and all that makes a man." This eulogy has already
been well earned by its recipient.

The Pen of a Ready Writer

L

CHAPTER XI

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER

ITERARY pursuits have always been to Andrew

Carnegie a real source of pleasur^ He has

allowed his natural gifts in this direction to have full
scope, and has acquired a worthy reputation as a strong
and incisive writer, with a vivid, attractive style and a
mastery of powerful illustration and apt quotation.

Notwithstanding the heavy tax upon his time and
energies involved in the building up of the gigantic con-
cern which bears his name, he has found leisure to
indulge in literary work. The journalistic craving has
always been strong within him, and the writing of
articles, chiefly on commercial, political and social
questions, for the principal reviews of both countries,
has been to him a welcome recreation from the storm
and stress of business. We have already referred to
the most important of his articles, which earned him
his international notoriety as a writer and social
refquner.

yin addition to a large number of lengthy and valu-
able magazine articles, he has written four books^
His first publication, entitled "Round the World,'*
which appeared in 1879, contained a picturesque

181

i82 ANDREW CARNEGIE

account of a trip across the Pacific to Japan, China and
India, and home again via the Suez Canal and Europe.
There is much in this book that shows the characteris-
tics of the man, his keen estimate of German nature,
his interest in and understanding of social and political
economics. Many of Mr. Carnegie's descriptions are
as graphic as they are unconventional. He has the
following to say about the first sight of Japan and the
landing :

"Land ahoy ! The islands of Japan are in sight, and
the entrance to the bay is reached at 4 p. m. The sail
up this bay is never to be forgotten. The sim set as we
entered, and then came such a sky as Italy cannot rival.
I have seen it pictured as deluging Egypt with its
glory, but this we have yet to see. Fusiyama itself
shone forth under its rays, its very summit clear, more
than 14,000 feet above us. The clouds in large masses
lay east and west of the peak, but cowering far below,
as if not one speck dared to rise to its crown. It stood
alone in solitary granduer, by far the most impressive
mountain I have yet seen ; for mountains, as a rule, are
disappointing, the height being generally attained by
gradations. It is only to Fusiyama, and such as it, that
rise alone in one unbroken pyramid, that one can apply
Schiller's grand line,

"Ye are the things which tower."
Fusiyama towers beyond any crag or peak I know of.

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER 183

and I do not wonder that in early days the Japanese
made the home of their gods upon its crest.

"It was nine o'clock when the anchor dropped, and in
a few minutes after small boats crowded alongside to
take us ashore. Until you are rowed in a sampan in
style, never flatter yourself you have known the
grotesque in the way of transportation. Fancy a large,
wide canoe, with a small cabin in the stem, the deck in
front lower than the sides, and on this four creatures,
resembling nothing on earth so much as the demons in
the Black Crook, minus most of the covering. They
stand two on each side, but not in a line, and each works
a long oar scull-fashion, accompanying each stroke with
shouts such as we have never heard before ; the last one
steers as well as sculls with his oar, and thus we go,
propelled by these yelHng devils, who apparently work
themselves into a state of fearful excitement."

This paragraph, written as the author is about to
leave the land of the Rising Sun, contains a prophecy
that has long been realized :

"That Japan will succeed in her effort to establish a
central government under something like our ideas of
freedom and law, and that she has such resources as will
enable her to maintain it and educate her people I am
glad to be able to say I believe ; but much remains to
be done requiring in the race the exercise of solid quali-
ties, the possession of which I find some Europeans

i84 ANDREW CARNEGIE

disposed to deny them. They have traveled, perhaps,
quite fast enough, and I look for a temporary triumph
of the more conservative party. But the seed is sown,
and Japan will move, upon the whole, in the direction
of progress.'

Referring to the conditions in Ceylon, Mr. Carnegie
has to say :

"I am amused at the ignorance of the average
Englishman or American upon Eastern affairs. He is
always amazed when I tell him that so far as repre-
sentative institutions are concerned, there is not a
village in India which is not further advanced in this
department of politics than any rural constituency in
Britain. The American county, village, district and
township system is, of course, more perfect than any
other with which I am acquainted, but the English is
really about the most backward. The experiment in
Ceylon of restoring the native system has been an
unequivocal success, even beyond the expectations of
its warmest advocates, and in addition to the advan-
tages flowing from the native courts, it is found that
the village committees are beginning to repair and
restore the ancient tanks and other irrigation works,
which, under the curse of centralized and foreign
authority, had been allowed to fall into disuse."

The following passage is an interesting parallel to
that quoting the wages of workingmen in England.

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER 185

The "land'* referred to is India, and the place
Benares.

"We are in the land of the cheapest labor in the
world. It is doubtful if men can be found anywhere
else to do a day's work for as little as they are paid
in India. Railway laborers and coolies of all kinds re-
ceive only four rupees per month, and find themselves ;
these are worth just now forty cents each, or say $1.60
(6s. 6d.) in gold for a month's service. Upon this a
man has to exist. Is it any wonder that the masses
are constantly upon the verge of starvation ? Women
earn much less, and of course every member of a
family has to work and earn something. The common
food is a pulse called gran ; the better class indulge
in a pea called daahl. Anything beyond a vegetable
diet is not dreamed of.'*

Mr. Carnegie's anti-imperialism crops out strongly in
the following, but one cannot help thinking what a
splendid thing England is doing in "giving to these
millions the blessings of order" — ^well worth the cost.

"What do I think of India? is asked me every day;
but I feel that one accustomed to the exceptional
fertility and advantages of America — a land so wonder-
fully endowed that it seems to me more and more the
special favorite of fortune — is very apt to underrate
India. We saw it after two years of bad harvests and
a third most unpromising one coming on. Judged

i86 ANDREW CARNEGIE

from what I saw, I can only say that I, as a lover of
England, find it impossible to repress the wish that
springs up at every turn, Would she were safely and
honorably out of it ? Retiring now is out of the ques-
tion; she has abolished the native system in large dis-
tricts, and must perforce continue the glorious task of
giving to these millions the blessings of order."

This was followed in 1882 by "Our Coaching Trip,"
which is an interesting record of a drive on a coach and
four through England and Scotland from Brighton to
Inverness. These two books were intended for private
circulation only, but they aroused so much interest
that after giving away fifteen hundred copies of the
latter work and a large number of the former a second
issue of both was found necessary. "Our Coaching
Trip" was re-entitled "An American Four-in-Hand in
Britain." Mr. Carnegie rambles on in a delightful
way, digressing often, following any byway that might
strike his fancy, stating facts, quoting appropriately at
timeiB.

^^ven in this lighter literature Mr. Carnegie's strong
likes and dislikes show clearly; his abhorrence of war,
his dislike for monarchical institutions, his ipion-
sectarianism^— all these characteristics crop out any-
where and everywhere../

A few quotations, follow. Anent a visit to Parlia-
ment he says : s^a\

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER 187

"The daily routine is uninteresting, and one sees
how rapidly all houses of legislation are losing their
hold upon public attention. A debate upon the pro-
priety of allowing Manchester to dispose of her sewage
to please herself, or of permitting Dunfermline to bring
in a supply of water, seems such a waste of time. The
Imperial Parliament of Great Britain is much in want
of something to do when it condescends to occupy its
time with trifling questions which the community
interested can best settle; but even in matters of
national importance debates are no longer what they
were. The questions have already been threshed out
in the Reviews — ^those coming forums of discussion —
and all that can be said is already said by writers upon
both sides of the question who know its bearings much
better than the leaders of party."

The author's love for his adopted country rings out
in the following :

"Do you know why the American worships the starry
banner with a more intense passion than even the
Briton does his flag ? I will tell you. It is because it
is not the flag of a government which discriminates
between her children, decreeing privilege to one and
denying it to another, but the flag of the people which
gives the same rights to all. The British flag was bom
too soon to be close to the masses. It came before
their time, when they had little or no power. They

i88 ANDREW CARNEGIE

were not consulted about it. Some conclave made it,
as a pope is made, and handed it down to the nation.
But the American flag bears in every fiber the warrant,
'We the People in Congress assembled.' It is their
own child, and how supremely it is beloved !"

And again in reference to Garfield :

''Garfield's life was not in vain. It tells it own story
— ^this poor boy toiling upward to the proudest position
on earth, the elected of fifty millions of freemen; a
position compared with which that of king or kaiser
is as nothing. Let other nations ask themselves where
are our Lincolns and Garfields? Ah, they grow not
except where all men are bom equal ! The cold shade
of aristocracy nips them in the bud."

He painted many pictures of English rural life and
showed a surprising appreciation of Nature. Here is
an illustration :

*The approach to Guildford gives us our first real
perfect English lane — so narrow and so bound in by
towering hedgerows worthy the name. Had we met
a vehicle at some of the prettiest turns there would
have been trouble, for, although the lane is not quite as
narrow as the pathway of the auld brig, where two
wheelbarrows trembled as they met, yet a four-in-hand
upon an English lane requires a clear tack. Vegeta-
tion near Guildford is luxiiriant enough to meet our
expectations of England. It was at the White Lion

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER 189

we halted, and here came oiir first experience of quar-
ters for the night. The first dinner en route was a
decided success in oxir fine sitting-room, the American
flags, brought into requisition for the first time to
decorate the mantel, bringing to all sweet memories of
home. During our stroll to-day we stopped at a small
village inn before which pretty roses grew, hanging in
clusters upon its sides. It was a very small and himible
inn indeed, the tile floors sanded, and the fumitiire of
the tap-room only plain wood — ^there were no chairs,
only benches around the table where the hinds sit at
night, drinking home-brewed beer, smoking their clay
pipes, and discussing not the political affairs of the
nation, but the affairs of their little world, bounded by
the hall at one end of the estate and the parsonage at
the other."

Also this bit of description :

"The rugs were laid under a chestnut tree, and our
first picnic luncheon spread on the buttercups and
daisies. Swallows skimmed the water, bees hummed
above us — ^but stop ! what's that, and where ? Otir
first skylark singing at heaven's gate ? All who heard
this never-to-be-forgotten song for the first time were
up and on their feet in an instant ; but the tiny songster
which was then filling the azure vault with music was
nowhere to be seen. It's worth an Atlantic voyage
to hear a skylark for the first time. Even luncheon

I90 ANDREW CARNEGIE

was neglected awhile, hungry as we were, that we might
if possible catch a glimpse of the warbler. The flood
of song poured forth as we stood rapt awaiting the
descent of the messenger from heaven. At last a small
black speck came into sight. He is so little to see — so
great to hear ?

Interested in workmen the world over, Mr. Carnegie
wormed the following from a carpenter whom he
happened to meet :

" He was a rough carpenter and his wages were six-
teen shillings per week ($4). A laborer gets eleven
shillings (not $2.75), but some 'good masters' pay
thirteen to fourteen shillings ($3.25 to $3.50) and give
their men four or five poimds of beef at Christmas.
Food is bacon and tea, which are cheap, but no beef.
Men's wages have not advanced much for many years
(I should think not !), but women's have. An ordinary
woman for field work can get one shilling per day
(twenty-four cents) ; a short time ago ninepence
(eighteen cents) was the highest amount paid. Is it not
cheering to find poor women getting an advance ? But
think what their condition still is, when one shilling
per day is considered good pay? I asked whether
employers did not board the workers in addition to
paying these wages, but he assured me they did not.
This is Southern England and these are agricultural
laborers, but the wages seem distressingly low even

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER 191

as compared with British wages in general. The new
system of education and the coming extension of the
stiff rage to the cotmties will soon work a change among
these poor people. They will not rest content crowding
each other down thus to a pittance when they can
read and write and vote. Thank fortune for this."

The following good advice Mr. Carnegie has followed
himself. It is rather characteristic of the man that his
preaching and his practice coincide :

"We strolled over and watched the cricketers. It
all depends upon how you look at a thing. So many
able-bodied perspiring men knocking about a little
ball on a warm simimer's day, that is one way; so many
men relieved from anxious care and laying the founda-
tions for long years of robust health by invigorating
exercise in the open air, that is the other view of the
question. The ancients did not count against our
little time of life the days spent in the chase; neither
need we charge those spent in cricket ; and as for our
sport, coaching, for every day so spent we decided that
it and another might be safely credited. He was a
very wise prime minister who said he had often found
important duties for which he had not time ; one duty,
however, he had always made time for, his daily after-
noon ride on horseback. Your always busy man accom-
plishes little; the great doer is he who has plenty of
leisure. The man at the helm turns the wheel now and

192 ANDREW CARNEGIE

then, and so easily, too, touching an electric bell ; it's
the stoker down below who is pitching into it with his
coat off. And look at Captain McMicken promenading
the deck in his uniform and a face like a full moon ;
quite at his ease and ready for a story. And there is
Johnnie Watson, chief engineer, who rules over the
throbbing heart of the ship; he is standing there
prepared for a crack. Moral: Don't worry yourself
over work, hold yourself in reserve, and sure as fate
' it will all come right in the wash. * '*

"A beautiful tribute to the mother land is found
in the names of towns and cities in the new. As even on
the crowded, tiny Mayflower the stem Puritan found
room to bring and nurse with tender care the daisy of
his native land, so the citizen, driven from the dear old
home, ever sighs, ' England, with all thy faults I love
thee still.' Surely, why not? Her faults are as one,
her virtues as a thousand. And having a new home to
christen, with swelling heart and tearful eye, and a love
for the native land which knows no end and never can
know end while breath clings to the body, he conjures
up the object of his fondest love and calls his new home
Boston, York, Brighton, Hartford, Stratford, Lynn,
Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dtirham, Perth,
Aberdeen, Dundee, Norwich, Cambridge, Oxford,
Canterbury, Rochester, London, Newcastle, Man-
chester, Birmingham, Middleboro', Chester, Coventry,

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER 193

Plymouth,or other dear name of the place where in life's
young days he had danced o'er the sunny braes, heard
the lark sing in the heavens, and the mavis pour forth
its glad song from the hedgerow. The Briton travels
through the RepubHc living in a succession of hotels :
Victorias, Clarendons, Windsors, Westminsters, Albe-
marles. He might think himself at home again except
that the superior advantages of the new hostelries
serve to remind him at every turn that things are not
as he has been accustomed to. So that our household
gods are not only the same in the new as in the old land,
but we call them by the same names and love them.
And what American worthy of the name but shall
reverence the home of his fathers and wish it god-
speed ? When the people reign in the old home as they
do in the new, the two nations will become one people,
and the bonds which unite them the world combined
shall not break asunder. The republican on this side
of the Atlantic will extend his hand to his fellow upon
the other, and resolve that no difference between them
shall ever lead to war. All parties in the Republic
j,lready stand pledged to the doctrine of peaceful
arbitration. The reign of the masses is the road to
imiversal peace. Thrones and royal families, and the
influences necessarily surrounding jealous dynasties,
make for war; the influences surrounding Democracy
make for peace."

194 ANDREW CARNEGIE

Andrew Carnegie the Scotchman describes himself
when the border line was crossed and the coach entered
Scotland :

" It was on Saturday, July i6th, that we went over
the border. The bridge across the boundary line was
soon reached. When midway over, a halt was called
and vent given to our enthusiasm. With three cheers
for the land of the heather, shouts of 'Scotland for-
ever,' and the waving of hats and handkerchiefs, we
dashed across the border. O Scotland, my own, my
native land, your exiled son returns with love for you
as ardent as ever warmed the heart of man for his
country. It's a God's mercy I was bom a Scotchman,
for I do not see how I could ever have been contented
to be anything else. The little plucky dour deevil, set
in her own ways and getting them, too, level-headed
and shrewd, with an eye to the main chance always, and
yet so lovingly weak, so fond, so led away by song or
story, so easily touched to fine issues, so leal, so true !
Ah, you suit me, Scotia, and proud am I that I am your
son."

Altogether "An American Four-in-Hand in Britain"
is an extremely vivacious book, sparkling with humor
and gems of scenic description and chatty reminis-
cences.

In 1886 was published his best-known work, ** Trium-
phant Democracy." The dedication of the book reads

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER 195

as follows — "To the beloved Republic, tinder whose
equal laws I am made the peer of any man, although
denied political equality by my native land, I dedicate
this book, with an intensity of gratitude and admiration
which the native-bom citizen can neither feel nor
understand." This, together with the first paragraph,
indicates the trend of the book — ''The old nations
creep on at a snail's pace ; the Republic thunders past
with the rush of an express. The United States, the
growth of a single century, has already reached the
foremost rank among nations, and is destined soon to
outdistance all others in the race. In population, in
wealth, in annual savings, and in public credit; in
freedom from debt, in agriculture and in manufactures
America already leads the civilized world." At the
time he wrote the book Mr. Carnegie was at the height
of his political enthusiasm, and his caustic attacks on
royalty and the aristocracy, together with the real
merit of the volume in other respects, attracted a great
deal of attention and criticism and aroused not a little
righteous indignation.

With an enthusiasm for his adopted country that is
splendid, and from the point of view of the Ameri-
canized Briton, he proceeds to tell the Republic's
greatness.

"The American is tolerant. Politics do not divide
people. Once in four years he warms up and takes

196 ANDREW CARNEGIE

sides, opposing hosts confront each other, and a stranger
would naturally think that only violence could result
whichever side won. The morning after election his
arm is upon his opponent's shoulder and they are
chaffing each other. All becomes as calm as a Summer
sea. He fights ''rebels" for four years, and as soon
as they lay down their arms invites them to his ban-
quets."

As to the question of the maintenance of the purely
American race he has this to say :

*'It is not unusual to find in the writings of Euro-
peans statements to the effect that the American race
is unable to maintain itself without the constant influx
of foreign immigration. A position more directly
opposed to the facts could scarcely be taken. Let us
see. The total mmiber of persons of foreign birth
in the United States in 1890 was approximately
9,250,000. The total number of persons of native
birth, but whose parents were of foreign birth, in
1890 was approximately 10,400,000. Now, since immi-
gration on a large scale commenced at a compara-
tively recent date, it is not probable that there is any
considerable number of persons of foreign parentage
in the second generation. Therefore, the sum of these
19,650,000, or, in round ntimbers, 20,000,000, is prob-
ably a close approximation to the number of persons
in the country of foreign birth or of foreign parentage.

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER 197

The number of whites in the United States in 1890
was, in round numbers, 55,000,000. Subtracting from
this the above 20,000,000, leaves as the number of
whites of native abstraction in the United States in
1890, 35,000,000. In 1840 the corresponding nimiber
was approximately 14,000,000, showing that in fifty
years the native population, tmaided by immigration,
has much more than doubled — indeed, has increased
no less than one hundred and fifty per cent. It does
not look as if the 'American race' is not able to main-
tain itself."

For even the much maligned immigrant to the United
States he has a good word :

*'But the value of these peaceful invaders does not
consist solely in their numbers or in the wealth which
they bring. To estimate them aright we must take
into consideration their superior character. As the
people who laid the foundation of the American
Republic were extremists, fanatics, if you will — men of
advanced views intellectually, morally and politically;
men whom Europe had rejected as dangerous — so the
emigrants to-day are men who leave their native land
from dissatisfaction with their surroundings, and who
seek here, under new conditions, the opportunity for
development denied them at home. The old and
destitute, the idle and the contented, do not brave the
waves of the stormy Atlantic, but sit hopelessly at home

198 ANDREW CARNEGIE

perhaps bewailing their hard fate, or, what is still more
sad to see, aimlessly contented with it. The emigrant
is the capable, energetic, ambitious, discontented man
— ^who, longing to breathe the air of equality, resolves
to tear himself away from the old home with its associa-
tions, to found in hospitable America a new home imder
equal and just laws, which insure to him, and — ^what
counts with him and his wife far more — insure to their
children the full measure of citizenship, making them
free men in a free State, possessed of every right and
privilege."

Mr. Carnegie, a thorough student of economics and
prone to look well before he leaps, has no patience with
snapshot legislation.

"These grand, immutable, all-wise laws of natural
forces, how perfectly they work if human legislators
would only let them alone ! But no, they must be
tinkering. One day they would protect the balance of
power in Europe by keeping weak, small areas apart
and independent — ^an impossible task, for petty States
must merge into the greater: political is as certain as
physical gravitation ; the next day it is silver in America
which our sage rulers would make of greater intrinsic
value. So our governors, all over the world, are at
Sisyphus 's work — ever rolling the stone uphill to see
it roll back into its proper bed at the bottom."

Though Mr. Carnegie's enthusiasm for America and

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER 199

her institutions is one of his strongest feelings, he has a
love for his mother country that crops out everywhere
and tinges all his writings.

A hard worker himself, Mr. Carnegie thoroughly
believes in the dignity of labor. The following para-
graph from the chapter in "Triumphant Democracy"
on "Occupations" shows the importance he attaches
to the American's capacity for work :

"There is still little realized wealth and only a trace
of a leisure class. The climate stimulates to exertion.
The opinion is very generally held that every citizen
owes the Republic a Hfe of usefulness. Carlyle says:
'Happy is the man who has found his work.' Very
few Americans, indeed, are permitted to trace their
unhappiness, if unhappiness there be, to a failure in this
direction. Every man appears to have found his
work and to be doing it with a will. The American
likes work. He has not yet learned to play the idler
gracefully. Even when old age appears he seems to
find it more difficult than the man of any other race
toretire from active and engrossing pursuits."
.^With Mr. Carnegie practice and preaching go hand
in hand to a remarkable degree. The following para-
graph from "Triumphant Democracy" matches the
ten-million gifts for education in America and Scotland:

"The moral to be drawn from America by every
nation is this : 'Seek ye first the education of the people,

200 ANDREW CARNEGIE

and all other political blessings will be added unto you.'
The quarrels of party, the game of politics, this or that
measure of reform, are but surface affairs of little
moment . The education of the people is the real under-
lying work for earnest men who would best serve their
country y' In this, the most creditable work of all, it
cannot be denied that the Republic occupies the first
place/*

The two following quotations contain the gist of
Andrew Carnegie's feeling about churches and religious
services :

''One hundred and fifty differing sects are found in
the United States, each fortunately certain that it has
in its bosom the truth ; and each has part of the truth.
All truth is not to be gathered in one or all the sects.
It is too vast, too all-pervading, to be cabined, cribbed,
confined. As well might one country claim a monopoly
of all the air of heaven, as one sect all the truth of
heaven. Each may have some, but none can have all.

** Without church-rate or tithe, without State endow-
ment or State supervision, religion in America has
spontaneously acquired a strength which no political
support could have given. It is a living force entering
into the lives of the people, and drawing them closer
together in unity of feeling, and working silently and
without sign of friction which in the mother country
results from a union with the State, which, as we have

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER 201

seen, tends strongly to keep the people divided one
from another. The power of the church in America
must not be sought, as Burke said of an ideal aristoc-
racy, *in rotten parchments, under dripping and perish-
ing walls, but in full vigor, and acting with vital energy
and power, in the character of the leading men and
natural interests of the country/ Even if judged by
the accommodations provided, and the sums spent
upon church organizations, Democracy can safely
claim that of all the divisions of English-speaking
people, it has produced the most religious community
yet known."

Commerce is a word spelled large in Mr. Carnegie's
vocabulary — commercial success is much more to be
honored than military glory — ^the man who achieves
great things industrially is "greater than he who taketh
a city" by force of arms.

**The United States of America probably furnish the
jDnly example in the world's history of a community
., purely industrial in origin and development. Every
other nation seems to have passed through the military
stage. In Europe and in Asia, in ancient times as
well as in modern, social development has been mainly
the result of war. Nearly every modern dynasty in
Europe has been established by conquest, and every
nation there has acquired and held its territory by
force of arms. Men have been as wild beasts slaughter-

202 ANDREW CARNEGIE

ing each other at the command of the small privileged
classes. The colonies of America, on the other hand,
were established upon a peaceful basis, and the land
chiefly obtained by purchase or agreement, and not
by conquest. Devoted to industry, the American
people have never taken up the sword except in self-
defense or in defense of their institutions."

"Triumphant Democracy" reached a circulation of
40,000 copies in the first two years, and it acquired an
added notoriety through the efforts of some superla-
tively loyal persons to have it suppressed.

Mr. Carnegie has published a dozen of his articles
imder the general title of ''The Gospel of Wealth," and
several of them have a direct bearing on the chief
chapter. One of the most striking arguments in the
"Gospel" is his contention that poverty is a positive
help in the formation of character and the winning
of success. The following passage is quoted from
the above-mentioned book from "The Advantages of
Poverty":

^ "Hereditary wealth and position tend to rob father
and mother of their children and the children of father
and mother. It cannot be long ere their disadvantages
are felt more and more and the advantages of plain and
simple living more clearly seen.

**Poor boys reared thus directly by their parents
possess such advantages over those watched and

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER 203

taught by hired strangers, and exposed to the tempta-
tions of wealth and position, that it is not surprising
they become the leaders in every branch of human
action. They appear upon the stage, athletes trained
for the contest, with sinews braced, indomitable wills,
resolved to do or die. Such boys always have marched,
and always will march, straight to the front and lead
the world ; they are the epoch-makers. Let one select
the three or four foremost names, the supremely great
in every field of human triumph, and note how small
is the contribution of hereditary rank and wealth to
the short list of the immortals who have lifted and
advanced the race. It will, I think, be seen that the
possession of these is almost fatal to greatness and
goodness, and that the greatest and the best of our
race have necessarily been nurtured in the bracing
school of poverty — ^the only school capable of pro-
ducing the supremely great, the genius."
/ Mr. Carnegie's ideas about trusts aroused a great
deal of interest. He contends in general that trusts
are inevitable and many of them distinctly beneficial to
the public. The following quotation is from ''Popular
Illusions About Trusts" :

"If there be in human history one truth clearer and
more indisputable than another, it is that the cheapen-
ing of articles, whether of luxury or of necessity or of
those classed as artistic, insures their more general

204 ANDREW CARNEGIE

distribution, and is one of the most potent factors in
refining and lifting a people and in adding to its happi-
ness. In no period of human activity has this great
agency been so potent or so widespread as in oiir own.
Now, the cheapening of all these good things, whether
it be the metals, in textiles or in food, or especially
in books and prints, is rendered possible only through
the operation of the law, which may be stated thus:
cheapness is in proportion to the scale of production.
To make ten tons of steel a day would cost many times
as much per ton as to make one htmdred tons ; to make
one hundred tons would cost double as much per ton
as a thousand ; and to make one thousand tons per day
would cost greatly more than to make ten thousand
tons. Thus, the larger the scale of operation the
cheaper the product. The huge steamship of twenty
thousand tons' burden ca;rries its ton of freight at less
cost, it is stated, than the first steamships carried
a pound. It is, fortunately, impossible for man to
impede, much less to change, this great and beneficent
law, from which flow most of his comforts and luxuries,
and also most of the best and most improving forces
in his life.

" In an age noted for its inventions we see the same
law running through these. Inventions facilitate big
operations, and in most instances, required to be
worked upon a great scale. Indeed, as a rule, the great

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER 205

invention which is beneficent in its operation would be
useless unless operated to supply a thousand people
where ten were supplied before. Every agency in our
day labors to scatter the good things of life, both for
mind and body, among the toiling millions. Every-
where we look we see the inexorable law ever produc-
ing bigger and bigger things. One of the most notable
illustrations of this is seen in the railway freight car.
When the writer entered the service of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad from seven to eight tons were carried
upon eight wheels ; to-day they carry fifty tons. The
locomotive has quadrupled in power. The steamship
to-day is ten times bigger, the blast-furnace has seven
times more capacity, and the tendency everywhere
is still to increase. The contrast between the hand
printing press of old and the elaborate newspaper
printing machine of to-day is even more marked. '*

Mr. Carnegie has to say of the relations of employer
and employee as follows :

" It is the chairman, situated hundreds of miles away
from his men, who only pays a flying visit to the works
and perhaps finds time to walk through the mill or
mine once or twice a year, that is chiefly responsible
for the disputes which break out at intervals. I have
noted that the manager who confers oftenest with a
committee of his leading men has the least trouble
with his workmen. Although it may be impracticable

2o6 ANDREW CARNEGIE

for the presidents of these large corporations to know
the workingmen personally, the manager at the mills,
having a committee of his best men to present their
suggestions and wishes from time to time, can do much
to maintain and strengthen amicable relations, if not
interfered with from headquarters. I, therefore,
recognize in trades unions, or better still, in the
organizations of the men in each establishment, who
select representatives to speak for them, a means, not
of further embittering the relations between employer
and employed, but of improving them. "

Mr. Carnegie's latest book,"The Empire of Business,"
may be called a book of inspiration ; it has a distinctly
optimistic tone, and almost every chapter expresses
the hopeful, cheerful disposition which is character-
istic of its author. In this latest book Mr. Carnegie's
well-known opinions about the uses of wealth, the
advantages of poverty and the relations of capital and
labor are clearly expressed. Beside these subjects
Mr. Carnegie writes interestingly about such things
as steel manufacture, oil and gas wells, and railroads,
about which he is a recognized authority.

In "The A B C of Money" Mr. Carnegie has given
a remarkably clear idea of the whole money question.
The following gives the reason for money in a nutshell.

"To get at the root of the subject you must know,
first, why money exists; secondly, what money really

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER 207

is. Let me try to tell you, taking a new district of our
own modem country to illustrate how 'money* comes.
In times past, when the people only tilled the soil, and
commerce and manufactures had not developed, men
had few wants, and so they got along without 'money*
by exchanging the articles themselves when they
needed something which they had not. The farmer
who wanted a pair of shoes gave so many bushels of
com for them, and his wife bought her stm-bonnet by
giving so many bushels of potatoes ; thus all sales and
purchases were made by exchanging articles — ^by
barter.

"As population grew and wants extended, this plan
became very inconvenient. One man in the district
then started a general store and kept on hand a great
many of the things which were most wanted, and took
for these any of the articles which the farmer had to
give in exchange. This was a great step in advance,
for the farmer who wanted half a dozen different things
when he went to the village had then no longer to
search for half a dozen different people who wanted
one or more of the things he had to offer in exchange.
He could now go directly to one man, the storekeeper,
and for any of his agricultural products he could get
most of the articles he desired. It did not matter to
the storekeeper whether he gave the farmer tea or
coffee, blankets or a hayrake; nor did it matter what

2o8 ANDREW CARNEGIE

articles he took from the farmer, wheat or com or
potatoes, so he could send them away to the city and
get other articles for them which he wanted. The
farmer could even pay the wages of his hired men by
giving them orders for articles upon the store. No
dollars appear here yet, you see; all is still barter —
exchange of articles; very inconvenient and very
costly, because the agricultural articles given in ex-
change had to be hauled about and were always
changing their value."

The author stands for a gold standard, of course. He
closes his article on the subject of money with the
following earnest summing up :

"I have written in vain if this paper does not do
something to explain why this is so, and to impel the
people to let their representatives in Congress clearly
understand that, come what may, the stamp of the
republic must be made true, the money of the Ameri-
can people kept the highest and stirest in value of all
money in the world, above all doubt or suspicion, its
standard in the future, as in the past, not fluctuating
silver, but unchanging gold."

Andrew Carnegie has been called a "slave driver,"
and it has been said that his workmen have been driven
unwarrantably. The facts in the case disprove this,
and his writings show that he looked at things from
the workman's point of view as well as that of the

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER 209

employer. The following quotations from two chap-
ters of "The Empire of Business" show his attitude
toward the question of capital and labor :

*Tt is very unfortunate that the irresistible tend-
ency of our age, which draws manufacturing into
immense establishments, requiring the work of thou-
sands of men, renders it impossible for employers
who reside near to obtain that intimate acquaintance
with employes which, under the old system of manu-
facturing in very small establishments, made the re-
lation of master and man more pleasing to both.

" When articles were manufactured in small shops by
employers who required only the assistance of a few
men and apprentices, the employer had opportunities
to know every one, to become well acquainted with
each, and to know his merits both as a man and as a
workman ; and on the other hand the workman, being
brought into closer contact with his employer, in-
evitably knew more of his business, of his cares and
troubles, of his efforts to succeed, and more important
than all, they came to know something of the charac-
teristics of the man himself. All this is changed.

" Thus the employes become more like htmian ma-
chines, as it were, to the employer, and the employer
becomes almost a myth to his men. From every
point of view this is a most regrettable result, yet it is
one for which I see no remedy. The free play of

fio ANDREW CARNEGIE

economic laws is forcing the manufacture of all articles
of general consumption more and more into the hands
of a few enormous concerns, that their cost to the con-
sumer may be less."

"It being therefore impossible for the employers of
thousands to become acquainted with their men, if we
are not to lose all feeling of mutuality between us, the
employer must seek their acquaintance through other
forms, to express his care for the well-being of those
upon whose labor he depends for success, by devoting
part of his earnings for institutions like this library,
and for the accommodation of their organizations, and
I hope in return that the employes are to show by the
use which they make of such benefactions that they in
turn respond to this sentiment upon the part of em-
ployers wherever it may be found.

"By such means as these we may hope to maintain
to some extent the old feeling of kindliness, mutual
confidence, respect and esteem which formerly dis-
tinguished the relations between the employer and
his men."

"The great inventions, the improvements, the dis-
coveries in science, the great works in literature have
sprung from the ranks of the poor. You can scarcely
name a great invention or a great discovery, you can
scarcely name a great picture or a great statue, a
great song or a great story, nor anything great, that

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER 211

has not been the product of men who started like your-
selves to earn an honest living by honest work.

"And, believe me, the man whom the foreman does
not appreciate, and the foreman whom the manager
does not appreciate, and the manager whom the firm
does not appreciate, has to find the fault not in the
firm, or the manager, or the foreman, but in himself.
He cannot give the service that which is so invaluable
and so anxiously looked for. There is no man who
may not rise to the highest position, nor is tjiere any
man who, from lack of the right qualities or failure to
exercise them, may not sink to the lowest. Employes
have chances to rise to higher work, to rise to foremen,
to be superintendents, and even to rise to be partners,
and even to be chairmen in our service, if they prove
themselves possessed of the qualities required. They
need never fear being dispensed with. It is we who
fear that the abilities of such nien may be lost to us.'\

The following from "The Three-Legged Stool"
shows that Mr. Carnegie places labor on the same
plane with capital and business ability.

"There is a partnership of three in the industrial
world when an enterprise is planned. The first of
these, not in importance but in time, is Capital. With-
out it nothing costly can be built. From it comes
the first breath of life into matter, previously inert.

** The structures reared, equipped and ready to begin

2 1 2 ADNREW CARNEGIE

in any line of industrial activity, the second partner
comes into operation. That is Business Ability.
Capital has done its part. It has provided all the
, instrumentalities of production ; but unless it can com-
mand the services of able men to manage the business,
all that Capital has done crumbles into ruin.

"Then comes the third partner, last in order of time
but not least, Labor. If it fails to perform its part,
nothing can be accomplished. Capital and Business
Ability, without it brought into play, are dead. The
wheels cannot revolve unless the hand of Labor starts
them.

** Now, volumes can be written as to which one of the
three partners is first, second or third in importance,
and the subject will remain just as it was before. Po-
litical economists, speculative philosophers and preach-
ers have been giving their views on the subject for
hundreds of years, but the answer has not yet been
found, nor can it ever be, because each of the three
is all-important, and every one is equally essential
to the other two. There is no first, second or last.
C There is no precedence ! They are equal members of
■' the great triple alliance which moves the industrial
( world. As a matter of history, Labor existed before
Capital or Business Ability, for when * Adam digged
and Eve span ' Adam had no capital, and if one may
judge from the sequel, neither of the two was inordi-

THE PEN OF A READY WRITER 213

nately blessed with business ability ; but this was before
the reign of Industrialism began and huge investments
of Capital were necessary.

" In our day Capital, Business Ability, Manual Labor }
are the legs of a three-legged stool. While the three
legs stand sound and firm, the stool stands ; but let any
one of the three weaken and break, let it be pulled out
or struck out, down goes the stool to the groimd. And
the stool is of no use until the third leg is restored."

The author of *The Gospel of Wealth" considers
thrift an evidence of civilization : the following from his
essay, "Thrift":

* 'The importance of the subject is suggested by the
fact that the habit of thrift constitutes one of the
greatest differences between the savage and the civil-
ized man. One of the fundamental differences be-
tween savage and civilized life is the absence of thrift
in the one and the presence of it in the other. When
millions of men each save a little of their daily earn-
ings, these petty sums combined make an enormous
amount, which is called capital, about which so much
is written. If men consumed each day of each week
all they earned, as does the savage, of course there
would be no capital — that is, no savings laid up for
future use.

Now, let us see what capital does in the world. We
will consider what the shipbuilders do when they

214 ANDREW CARNEGIE

have to build great ships. These enterprising com-
panies offer to build an ocean greyhound for, let us
say, £500,000, to be paid only when the ship is de-
livered after satisfactory trial trips. Where or how
do the shipbuilders get this sum of money to pay the
workmen, the wood merchant, the steel manufacturer,
and all the people who furnish material for the build-
ing of the ship ? They get it from the savings of civil-
ized men. It is part of the money saved for invest-
ment by the millions of industrious people. Each
man, by thrift, saves a little, puts the money in a
bank, and the bank lends it to the shipbuilders, who
pay interest for the use of it. It is the same with the
building of a manufactory, a railroad, a canal, or any-
thing costly. We could not have had anything more
than the savage had, except for thrift.*'

Mr. Carnegie is an orator as well as an author. His
speeches have a fine literary flavor, and are always
distinguished by sound common-sense argument and
logical reasoning. He is fertile in ideas and felicitous
in expression, and speaks with a clear, telling voice,
enforcing his points with graceful gesture.

Obiter Dicta

I

CHAPTER XII

OBITER DICTA

AM now entirely out of business, and nothing could
tempt me to return." Mr. Carnegie had always
intended to retire from business as soon after sixty as
possible, and to spend the eventide of his life in "rest,
recreation and philanthropy." The formation of the
colossal Steel Trust, with a capital of $1,100,000,000,
having afforded him the desired opporttmity to dis-
pose of his vast interests, the Steel King handed over
his possessions, took up his $250,000,000 in five per
cent, bonds and surplus before invested, and was free.
The whole world was open to him, but he fulfilled
universal expectations by electing to return to his
native land and spend at least the simimers of the
remaining years of his life amongst the mountain
and moor, and the heather and loch, of "Bonnie
Scotland."

At the time when his father became a naturalized
American Andrew was a minor, and consequently in
due course he stepped into the rights and privileges,
which he values so highly, of a full-fledged citizen of
the United States. It is therefore only fitting that, as
his country seat is in Scotland, his town residence

217

2i8 ANDREW CARNEGIE

should be in America. The palace on Fifth Avenue,
New York, which he has built for his own use, is in all
ways a dwelling-place worthy of a rich man. Mr.
Carnegie, however, true to his democratic principles,
gave instructions when the plans were being prepared
that the chief consideration should be "beauty, sim-
plicity and comfort." He recognized that his new
residence, from its size and the extent of its grounds,
must be a conspicuous object, but he deprecated
unnecessary magnificence or useless display, and conse-
quently his mansion is not so pretentious as many
others in that city of millionaires. The material used
in its construction was Indiana limestone and Harvard
brick; the decorations are in marble, onyx and bronze.
Mr. Carnegie will, no doubt, reside in New York during
some portions of the year, but his absence from his
beautiful retreat in the North of Scotland will not be
of long duration. For many years he rented Cluny
castle as his Scottish residence, but in 1895, hearing
that Skibo castle was in the market, he instantly made
inquiries about it, and was told that, although situated
at the extreme North of Scotland, it enjoyed a beautiful
climate, remarkably free from rawness, and exceed-
ingly healthy.

He promptly secured the option to purchase it for
$425,000, and was only just in time, as the trustees
received three other offers a week later. In due course

OBITER DICTA 219

he entered into possession of his estate, and upon his
arrival at his new home he met with an enthusiastic
reception from the tenantry, who presented him with
an address of welcome, and a flag bearing the inscrip-
tion: "Presented to Andrew Carnegie, Esquire, by
his tenants, crofters and feuars, on the occasion of his
homecoming as the proprietor of Skibo. ' ' Mr. Carnegie
made a characteristic reply, in which he said that
this was his first experience of entering a large resi-
dential estate as its owner. The best title-deed to the
land, and the best key to the castle, he added, would
be the knowledge that he "possessed the hearts of
his people."

Mr. Carnegie at once proceeded to overhaul the old
castle, and drew up plans for comprehensive alterations.
It was found necessary to demolish about half of it
condemned as unsafe, and to make extensive altera-
tions throughout. A new wing, was added to provide
more accommodation, the whole of the extensions and
alterations being carried out on the most modem
lines. The interior of the castle was entirely redeco-
rated and refurnished, and a spacious library designed
for the literary tastes of the new owner. The hall is of
noble dimensions, and leading from it is a staircase
of white Sicilian marble. The library contains 4,000
books.

The principal actor in the ceremony of laying the

220 ANDREW CARNEGIE

comer-stone of the new wing was Miss Margaret
Carnegie, the owner's little daughter. In returning
thanks for the gift of a trowel, with which the little
maiden performed the ceremony, Mr. Carnegie said that
* 'every year of his life confirmed him in the opinion that
the greatest work men and women could perform was to
establish on earth happy, virtuous, refined and earnest
homes. The gift would be the most treasured heir-
loom of his daughter, and would teach her that any
wealth and advantages that she might possess carried
with them corresponding responsibilities." When his
little girl was bom the papers proclaimed her the
heiress of millions. Commenting upon this report, Mr.
Carnegie said,' 'My wife and daughter shall not be cursed
with great wealth. Wealth can only bring happiness
in the sense that it brings us greater opportunities of
making others happy. The truest happiness is to
make others happy." Mrs. Carnegie has herself no
desire to inherit millions.

The fireside circle at Skibo is composed of Mr.
Carnegie, his wife and daughter, and a sister of Mrs.
Carnegie. The hostess is an American lady who has
made herself beloved by all who have met her. .^Mrs.
Cgrnegie, who is twenty years younger than her hus-
band, throws her heart and soul into all his schemes,
and it is to her that he first turns for advice. She is
consulted upon the management of his business affairs

OBITER DICTA 221

and public benefactions, and upon her womanly wisdom
and far-seeing judgment his decision is often founded.
Charming, vivacious and clever, Mrs. Carnegie is a
model hostess, but she prefers to be regarded simply
as the mistress of Skibo, and not as a person of public
interest. She does not court the attention of the
^'personal paragraphist," and shuns that prying indi-
vidual, "the interviewer."

Mr. Carnegie's home could not be otherwise than
the centre of happiness, and it is made still more radiant
with the joy of the presence of a sparkling jewel which
is very dear to Mr. Carnegie's heart. When his little
daughter was bom Mr. Carnegie said he had now
everything in the world his heart desired.

Skibo castle is situated on the northern shore of the
Dornoch Firth, Sutherlandshire, in the midst of a
romantic district, surroimded with a halo of tradition
and teeming with innumerable legends. It has a high
elevation, about half a mile from tidal water, and
is sheltered from the northern winds by hills and
woods, while from its windows a magnificent panorama
of mountain and loch stretches southward. The
grounds are extensive and beautifully laid out. The
estate extends many miles inland from the firth, and
includes hundreds of acres of brown heath and shaggy
wood, over which Mr. Carnegie's guests enjoy as good
grouse shooting as is to be found in Scotland.

2 2 2 ANDREW CARNEGIE

In the park half a mile from the house lie the golf
links, in which Mr. Carnegie takes such keen delight.
During recent years they have been considerably
developed and improved, until they are now one of
the finest courses in the country. Mr. Carnegie is an
enthusiast, and no mean exponent of the royal game.
Every visitor to Skibo inspects the golf links, and
nothing pleases the genial host more than for his guests
to accompany him for a run over the long stretch of
heather. He once said to a friend who was playing a
game with him, and who had happened to make a long
drive off the tee, that for the joy of making one such
drive the payment of $io,ooo would be cheap.

Mr. Carnegie is nearly as zealous in the pursuit of
his other sport, but unlike most fishermen, he does not
go simply to display his patience, for the streams he has
resort to are filled with salmon and trout. The Laird
of Skibo is also very fond of coaching, and by this
means he has traveled many hundreds of miles both
in Britain and America. A splendid sailor and an
intense lover of the sea, he is never so happy as when
being tossed in his beautifully equipped yacht, The
Seabreeze^ in which, when he is staying at Skibo, he
takes frequent cruises. The frolics of King Neptune
seem to harmonize with his nature and bring into play
all his youthful spirits and enthusiasm. He says :
*'To him who finds himself comfortable at sea, the

OBITER DICTA 223

ocean is the grandest of treats. He never fails to feel
himself a boy again while on the waves. There is an
exaltation about it. He walks the monarch of the
peopled deck, glories in the storm, rises with it, and
revels in it. Heroic song comes to him. The ship
becomes a Hving thing, and if the monster rears and
plunges it is akin to bounding on his thoroughbred
who knows its rider. Many feel thus, and I am happily
one of them."

Mr. Carnegie has a wide circle of friends, and many
prominent public men have enjoyed the hospitality of
Skibo since he became its owner. He is very proud
of his Highland castle, which he once described as
*'his earthly paradise," and nothing gives him greater
pleasure than to welcome his friends and point out
to them the natural beauties of the surrounding
district.

Mr. Carnegie is greatly respected by his tenants,
who find in him an ideal landlord. He has instituted
a number of reforms, and takes a deep interest in their
home life and daily work. It is not an uncommon
sight, when he is at Skibo, to see him engaged in a pro-
longed discussion with some old son of the soil, and he
owns that he often emerges from the wordy conflict
but "second best." From the old castle tower an
immense double flag — the Union Jack and Stars and
Stripes— floats in the breeze. A friend describing a

224 ANDREW CARNEGIE

visit he paid to Mr. Carnegie in his Highland home,
says, *'Mr. Carnegie keeps his own piper, and every
morning the inmates are wakened by the shrill music
of the Highlands. Before dinner the same bagpipes
serve as the substitute for the dinner bell, and the
piper marches to the dining-room, followed by the
guests."

Life in Skibo resembles that in most Highland
castles. The hall is littered with books and news-
papers, both British and American, but a special feature
is the organ, on which every morning before breakfast
sweet music is discoursed. It is Mr. Camegie^s substi-
tute for family prayers, and but the beginning of the
musical service with which he hopes in time to salute
each smiling mom.

In personal appearance Mr. Carnegie is a short,
sprightly man, about five feet six inches in height,
with an erect bearing, keen gray eyes, broad forehead
and powerful jaw. His temperament is buoyant and
youthful, and his physical endurance and ready inter-
est are remarkable. His hair has now turned gray, but
that is the only indication of advancing years. He
was blessed with a sound constitution, and this, added
to the fact that he eschewed the vices of youth and
followed the path of manly rectitude and healthy
recreation, has largely contributed to his success. Mr.
Carnegie is a non-smoker, and exceedingly abstemious

OBITER DICTA 225

in his habits. Moderation in all things has character-
ized his mode of living, and to this must be attributed
his wonderful vitality of mind and body, which is
superior to that possessed by many men half his age.
Like Mr. Gladstone, the grand old man of the nineteenth
century, whom he so reverently admired, Mr. Carnegie
possesses the precious quality of being able to fall
asleep at will, and in the short intervals between the
stress of business he has a habit of dropping off into a
refreshing slumber.

The retired capitalist speaks rather slowly and
clearly entmciates every word. The maxim, "Think
twice before you speak once," has great weight with
him. He is not one to be led unawares into making
a promise or expressing an opinion. He regards his
interrogator with a keen look from his brilliant, shrewd,
piercing eyes that seem to penetrate one's very mind ;
then, even if it be merely a . commonplace, he will
answer in his deliberate way, clearly impressing his
meaning upon his hearers. His face is a study in
character. His large, penetrating eyes, broad fore-
head and square chin stamp him as a man of com-
mercial foresight, intellectual strength and strong will
power. His features, though prominently marked, are
not harsh in outline, or they would belie the genial
blood which courses through his veins. Smiles are far
more fashionable with Mr. Carnegie than scowls, though

226 ANDREW CARNEGIE

at times he can look austere. He prefers optimism's
blue skies to pessimism's dark caverns, and is always
willing to exchange a joke or initiate a discussion.
He is a clever conversationalist, with a ready com-
mand of reliable information and a good stock of
stories drawn from his personal experience. His
vocabulary is not limited, either, and when satisfied
that his views are just he is not easily dislodged from
his position. He has conversed with the great men of
England and America, and wherever he goes he leaves
the impression of a strongly welded character and
a well-balanced mind.

In sharp contrast to his speech, his manner is very
restless and indicative of a large reserve of pent-up
energy. All who have come in contact with the man
have been impressed with his strong character and
conspicuous ability. Ian Maclaren says of him, that
the first time they met he felt instinctively that **an
able-bodied, able-minded, fully equipped and well-
finished man was there." Although short in stature,
Mr. Carnegie has a large head, and imlike the brain
that has amassed his millions, the hand that signs
them away is small.

His office in his home, where he transacts his business,
is fitted up with every convenience. His reservoir
of information is a big chest of drawers, and each one
is devoted to a separate object. Every drawer has

OBITER DICTA 227

affixed to it a label, such as "The Carnegie Steel Com-
pany's Reports, etc., etc.," "Correspondence about
Libraries," "Grants, and Other Donations," "Appli-
cations for Aid," "Autograph Letters to Keep," "Pub-
lication Articles," "Skibo Estate," "Pittsburgh Insti-
tute." The indispensable typewriter is there as a
matter of course, and hanging on the wall are a num-
ber of maps dotted with little flags to denote where the
scene of action for the moment lies. Apart from an
avalanche of wordy epistles, he has a large amount of
business to transact, but he has an excellent system
of rapid working, and with his capable secretary, Mr.
James Bertram, he manages to accomplish his daily
duties without seriously curtailing his leistire.

The Laird of Skibo is an omnivorous reader, and
keeps himself thoroughly well informed on current
affairs. Every day he reads half a dozen newspapers,
and he digests a number of weeklies and all the impor-
tant monthly reviews and magazines. Quick to single
out what interests him, he ignores the rest. Of more
soHd literature he has read widely, and has a natural
taste for the best writings of all ages. Shakespeare
and Burns are his special favorites, and he pays each
his daily homage by reading some portion of their
works.

As his book, "Round the World," proves, Mr.
Carnegie has traveled widely, and to some purpose.

228 ANDREW CARNEGIE

He has crossed the Atlantic more than sixty times,
and made expeditions to the North Cape, China, Japan,
and Mexico. These extensive travels have widened
the horizon of his thought and enriched his experience.
His course through life has admirably fitted him for the
great and responsible task he has set himself to fulfil.
It can be truthfully said that, take him all in all, there
is no living person better fitted than himself to dis-
tribute his wealth wisely.

The task seems almost superhuman in its vastness,
as every gift will be preceded by much thought and
careful inquiry. Mr. Carnegie could give his forttme
away at once, but one thing is certain, that no part of
his wealth will be squandered in hasty and ill-advised
gifts. If he kept his capital intact, which is most
unlikely, and distributed his income alone in bene-
factions, he would be able to give away over $35,000
every day, or $13,750,000 per annum.

But no one knows through what channels Mr.
Carnegie's wealth will flow, for he is not given to adver-
tising his plans on the housetops before they are ready
to be put in operation. Let it suffice us to know that
he will fulfil his promise, and let us be thankful that
such a vast agency for good is in the hands of a man
actuated by the highest principles and the noblest
ideals.

INDEX

Adams Express Company, in-
vestment in, 2 2

Allegheny, Mr. Carnegie's gift
to, 159

America, Mr. Carnegie's love
for, 187

American Civil War, 25

competition, 37

employer, 70-73

progress, 106

workmen, 62, 64, 73, 81

workmen, sobriety of, 124

"An American Four-in-Hand in
Britain," 186, 194

Anderson, Colonel, 156

Anglo-American reunion, 106-
108

Aristocracy, Mr. Carnegie and,
6, 64, 95

Balfour, A. J., 169

Bannerman, Sir. H. Campbell,
169

Beaconsfield, Lord, 95-96

Bemis, Professor, on Homestead
Strike, 85

Benefactions, object worthy of,
145-146

Bessemer process,' 35, 38

Birmingham Free Library, pre-
sentation to, 98

University, gift to, 120-

122, 163-164

Books, Mr. Carnegie and, 181

Braddock Steel Works, strike
at, 78, 80

Bright, John, 97

British- American union, 108

manufacturer , 114, 126

trade, 113

British workman, 69

Browning quoted, 105

Bruce, Robert, 3

Bryan, Mr. Carnegie's opposi-
tion to, lor

Bryce, Mr., 169
Bums, 4, 227

Carnegie, his birth, 3; educa-
tion, 4; school life, 4; devo-
tion to his mother, 7, 8; his
father, 9; farewell to Dun-
fermline, 10; first situation, 1 1 ;
his home, 13; telegraph mes-
senger, 17; telegraph opera-
tor, 20; enters service of
Pennsylvania Railroad Co.,
22; first investment, 23; Civil
War, 25; sleeping car inven-
tion 27; investment in Oil
Creek, 31; enters business for
himself, 34; adopts Bessemer
process, 36 ; growth and organ-
ization, 38-39; negotiations
with Steel Trust, 51; his
profits, 52; attitude toward
trusts, 53; belief in yotmg
men, 54; his partners, 57;
employer of labor, 61-74;
disputes with his workmen,
78-86; his views on strikes,
88; his political views, 93-
102 ; Anglo-American reimion,
105-108; on commercial
methods and equipment, 118-
1 26 ; his Gospel of Wealth, 1 29-
150; his benefactions, 153-
178; Skibo castle, 218, 221;
his recreation, 222; personal
characteristics, 224-226; his
favorite literature, 227; his
literary work, 181 ; his travels,
228; his great task in the
future, 228

Miss, 220

Carnegie, Mrs., 220-221

Steel Co., 45

Ceylon, conditions in, 184
Chamberlain, Joseph, M.P., 97-
98, 120, 163

229

230

INDEX {Continued)

Charity, indiscriminate, 139
Church, Mr. Carnegie's view on,

147-148
Copartnership, 62
Commerce, Minister of, 116
Commercial education, 1 18-123
Competition, effect of, 9, 116,

135
Compulsory arbitration, 89
Conversationalist, Mr. Carnegie

as a, 226
Correspondence, Mr. Carnegie's,

149, 227

Daily News Weekly, 117

Death duties, 137

Dilke, Sir Charles, 97

Dunfermline, 3, 8

Mr. Carnegie's gift to, 169

Edgar Thompson Steel Works,

Z9^ 47
Elgm, Earl of, 169
Emigration, 64
Employers, American, 70

duty of, 63

England, Mr. Carnegie's visit to,

35
England's danger, 114-115

future, 113

English M. P.'s, Mr. Carnegie's

opinion of , 99
English race, qualities of, 114

Fishing, Mr. Carnegie and, 222
Free trade, 99
Freedom of speech, 5
Frick, H. C, 81, 84, 87

Garfield, reference to, 188
Garland, Hamlin, quoted, 65-69
Giving, art of, 153
Gladstone, W. E., 95, 96, 97, loi

on Mr. Carnegie, 143

Glasgow, Mr. Carnegie's gift to,

158
Golf, Mr. Carnegie and, 222
Great Britain and her com-
merce, 113, 11$, 118, 123-126

Homestead Steel Works, 45-

46, 65-69, 81-87
Hospitals, 145
House of Lords, 95, 102

Commons, 102

Hughes, Rev. Hugh Price,

quoted, 143, 144

Imperialism, Mr. Carnegie and,

102, 114, 116, 185
India, workmen in, 185
Industrious poor, 131
Investments, Mr. Carnegie's,

22, 23, 28, 29

Japan, Mr. Carnegie's prophecy
about, 183

Journalism, Mr. Carnegie's con-
nection with, 21, 103

Keystone Bridge Works, 33

Labouchere, 97

Labor, conditions of, in United
States, 61; treatment of rep-
resentatives, 80; his theory
and practice in respect to, 63-
65; conflicts with, 80-88; his
views on strikes, 88, 89

Lake Superior, 49

Libraries, free, 71, 145, 157-161,
170

Literary Work, Mr. Carnegie's,
181

Long hours, 7 1

Maclaren, Ian, quoted, 226
Magazines, influence of, 103
McKinley tariff, 100
Millionaires, duty of, 140-141
Mr. Carnegie's views on,

143-144
Missionaries in China, 104
Monarchy, hatred of, 5, 95
Morgan, Mr. Pierpont, 37
Morley, John, Mr., M. P., 97
Mother, his, 6, 7, 8, 23
Music, Mr. Carnegie's fondness

for, 165, 224

New York, Mr. Carnegie's

gifts to, 154, 157, 166
New York, his residence in, 218
Newspapers, connection with,

21, 103
Nineteenth Century and After

quoted, 114
North American Review quoted,

134, 144

Obsolete machinery, 123
O'Donnell and Homestead

Strike, 85

INDEX (Continued)

231

Old age problem, 64

Organs, Mr. Carnegie's gift of,

146, 161
"Our Coaching Trip," 186
extracts from, 187-194

Parks, public, 146

Parliament, 187

Peace, Mr. Carnegie's support
of, lOI

Pennsylvania Railroad Co. , 2 1

Pension fund, Mr. Carnegie's,
166-167

Philanthropy, best fields for, 149

objects worthy of, 145

Philippine War, 10 1

Pinkerton detectives, 82, 84

Pittsburg Library, Mr. Car-
negie's gift of, 157, 160

Mr. Carnegie's references

to, II, 72, 160

Politics, early, 5

Poverty, advantages of, 13-14,

article on, 132, 134

Press, Mr. Carnegie on the

power of the, 103
Protection duties, 99
Pullman car investment, 28
Pulpit, Mr. Carnegie's views on,

103

Queen Victoria, 3

Railway, service on, 25

trucks, English, 125

Reading, Mr. Carnegie and, 227
Reed, Douglas, 17
Republican Government, Mr.

Carnegie on, 5, 93, 97
Rockefeller, J. D., 32
Roseberry, Earl of, 169
•"Round the World," 181
extracts from, 182-186

Salisbury, Lord, 95
Schemes suggested, 173-174
Schwab, Mr., 55

Scotland, Mr. Carnegie and, 194
Scott, Thomas, 21, 24-25
Scottish discontent, 4
Universities, his endow-
ment of, 162, 167
Self-help, 153

Shakespeare quoted, 33

Mr. Carnegie and, 227

Shaw, Thomas, M. P., 169
Skibo castle, 218-219, 221-224
Social reform, 96
South African War, Mr. Car-
negie on, loi, 115
Speaker, Mr. Carnegie as a, 225
Spencer, Herbert, Mr. Carnegie's

admiration of, 105
Steel rails, 36
Storey oil creek, 31
Strikes, Mr. Carnegie on, 88
Students and their fees, 171, 172
Swimming-baths, 145

Task, his future, 228
Telegraph boy, as a, 17-20
Tenants, Mr. Carnegie and his,

223
"The A B C of money, " 206-208
"The Empire of Business," 206
"The Three-legged Stool," 211-

213
Thrift, 213

encouragement of, 7 1

Trade unionism, 77-78, 124
Travels, Mr. Carnegie's, 228
' ' Triumphant Democracy , " 5 ,

199—200, 202
Trusts, Mr. Carnegie's views

on, 53

Uncle, his, 6

United States, 93, 94, 99

Steel Corporation, 55, 168,

217
Universities, 145

War, Mr. Carnegie's hatred of,

26, loi, 186
Wealth, Mr. Carnegie's Gospel

of, 12, 13, 129, 150
Wealth, reward of, 149
Workmen, duty of, 64

American, 69

English, 69

Mr. Carnegie and his, 166

Yachting, Mr. Carnegie and,

222
Young men, Mr. Carnegie's

belief in, 54-57, 122-123

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